A Reaper's Demon
by Aneera
Summary: Death isn't the only thing you need to fear in this world of Madness. When a Demon goes looking for her Soul Reaper and Witches get involved the walls of Hell come crashing down. The Fires are burning Black.
1. Unholy

In the realm of blackness, 'Hell', as humans call it, there is much more to be feared than Death.

Accompanying this form of dread are the Demons, creatures that are to be feared equally, if not more, than Reapers themselves. Alone they are the bringers of fear, lighting the way for impending doom. But paired with their soul Reapers the two bring about utter destruction and a wave of fury that leaves nothing but death and fire in its wake.

Demons are the "unholy" spawn of the Black Dragon, taking the Human form they blend within the madness of "Normal" people, posing a threat to only those who get in the way of their affairs. They posses Magick like that of Necromancers, but on a much darker level.

Without the pairing of Reapers and thier Demons the creation of new Reapers and Lords would cease to exist and the world woul plunge into the darkest level of Hell.

Because every Reaper has his Demon.

* * *

The wind blew something fierce, whipping around the trees and buildings of Death City, blowing in from the desert just outside the city's boundaries. Leaves were being kicked up and tossed in huge flurries, occupying the air that would normally belong to the birds on nice, sunny days.

The clouds overhead thickened with a deep gray undertone, threatening with the pelting of rain and, if all conditions permitted, hail the size of peas. The last three days the city had been burdened with this black clouded storm, leaving the streets more or less empty, save for those brave enough to beat against the wind.

After Asura had been once and for all put in his place the seven students had taken some extra time off, sleeping in, eating late and laying around. For two days Soul and Maka had ordered out, neither having the will or interest in cooking, often leaving small messes here and there about the house. Black Star and Tsubaki at least made efforts to keep active, training outside for short periods of time before the weather began acting up again. In Gallows Manor it was something of a miracle if ten minutes went by without a periodic squeal from Patty, at which time Kid and Liz either yelled at her or gave up trying, Liz only wanting peace and quite and Kid being bed ridden for a few days per doctor's and father's orders.

The Academy itself was still up and running, but there were far fewer attendants, students and teachers alike. The halls were mostly empty of any sign of life and a student thought it somewhat amazing is they happened to pass another creature, human or not, somewhere in the building. Students who hadn't participated in the fight against Asura or had anything to do with any sort of evil goings on had to attend to classes as normal, though not many took that rule seriously.

Having no death scythe to chop or son to bother, Shinigami-Sama busied himself as much as possible, making sure all of the repairs were wither being attended to or at the very least noticed. On occasion he'd step out of the Death Room and ponder the halls since if anyone needed to speak with him they usually, as of recently, came to him personally. When he wasn't checking to see which teachers were actually working and which weren't he was dealing with trying to find a new school nurse to replace the temporary replacement.

He wouldn't usually admit certain things out loud but in his opinion Medusa was, or had the potential to be, a wonderful nurse, problem being her horrible attitude. Actually, he truthfully thought Witches made perfect nurses, he just wished they weren't all so... evil. Of course they weren't all evil, but coming across "Good Witches," or "Wiccans," as modern religion had named them, was more difficult than most would imagine.

Thankfully only about half of his hours were empty and dull. The other half were usually occupied with talking to Maka and Soul, Black Star or Patty, as no one else dared to set foot outside. They'd come by often, letting Lord Death know that themselves, and everyone who either couldn't (Kid) or wouldn't (Tsubaki and Liz), were recovering just fine.

Maka stayed for longer periods of time, as the others just sort of popped in for a moment or two. She didn't fancy spending all of her time keeping both Soul and Blair happy, and talking to Shinigami-Sama had become almost like talking to family. She almost _did_ consider him family, seeing as she stopped by the Manor every day to check on Kid and baby him like he was seven.

The two would sit for anywhere between two and four hours in the Death Room, talking about anything and everything over a cup of hot tea. Maka did most of the talking however, as Lord Death usually never had anything interesting to say since he was mostly confined to the Academy, which was almost deserted completely.

After about a week of off time Maka had made it routine to stop by the Academy after lunch every day, no matter what horror was going on outside. She was thankful that the Manor was on the way so she didn't have to make multiple excursions or stay outside for too long. But usually by the time she'd finished dealing with Patty's unnecessary squeals of joy and Kid's spoiled and bratty attitude the only thing she looked forward to was the hot cup of tea.

"So? How is everybody?" was the usual conversation starter, but on one particular day it started with; "My, you look a little grumpy."

Maka huffed and sat on her respective pillow, glaring hotly at the cup of tea in front of her. "How'd you know?" she asked, making it more of a statement than anything.

Shinigami-Sama sat across the table from the meister and looked at her knowingly. "Well you aren't exactly smiling. Is something wrong?" He took a sip of his tea, waiting for her to speak.

At first she felt like screaming to the world how she felt, but it was useless since it seemed to be pretty empty at the moment and she hated wasting energy. "Just the usual. Soul's being difficult again and Blair never helps... at all. AND my worthless father is spending twice as much time with women."

"You should drink your tea before it gets too cold, I'm sure it'll make you feel better." Shinigami-Sama sipped at his own tea, hopefully encouraging Maka to do the same.

The meister sighed and did as he said, knowing he was right, he almost always was. Maka always loved the tea she was given, the thick aroma, the sweet taste. But today it tasted bitter to her, just like the rest of her day had been, bitter and dry. She set the cup down and slouched her shoulders forward, giving another loud sigh. "It doesn't taste the same."

Lord Death had never really been able to understand women on that emotional level, even Kid's mother hadn't stayed around long enough for him to "read her mind," like all women expect men to be able to do. "Listen Maka, you know that every time you and Soul go at it that it always gets settled in the end, I'm sure this time wont be any different. I mean it's not like you two every really get into serious arguments anyway."

Maka couldn't hold back the tiny smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth, because he was right. "Thanks, I needed that."

The two finished their tea and rambled on about useless subjects as usual, touching on anything from fighting techniques to 'what happens now?' Often the main subject is Kid's condition, which always causes Maka to rant about how spoiled rotten he is and how much she wished he'd stop being such a sissy all the time.

"Well I understand he can be a bit difficult at times, but-"

"He's got OCD to where he WAILS at the mention of his hair and yells at how he doesn't deserve to live! He left his partners in a pyramid ALONE for some stupid painting! Seriously! The boy has issues!"

"I know, but-!"

"Not to mention the fact that he's gonna get premature arthritis in BOTH hands 'cause he shoots with his freakin' pinkies! He's a health accident WAITING to happen! AND he never listens to anything I have to say as far advice goes because he thinks he knows everything! He is SUCH a MAN!"

By now Maka had almost visible steam pouring from her nose and ears.

"I though you said he acted like a sissy. It sounds to me like you're ranting more about Soul than anyone." Lord Death sat quietly while Maka realized that she _had_ been going off about Soul on that last comment.

She looked down sheepishly at her hand folded neatly in her lap. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't take it out on Kid, Soul is the one being an idiot." Once again her brow furrowed in irritation and she glared at the tall black mirror beside them, which, up until now, had been quiet and blank.

Sid's face appeared on the screen. "Lord Death, I have news!" he said enthusiastically.

Shinigami-Sama bid Maka a good-bye before giving Sid his full attention. "Hi there! What's up? What have you found?"

"While Professor Stein and I were out hunting for the Witch's congregational meeting place we found a large area of the nearby forest completely destroyed. There was fresh ash all over everything, like there had been a fire. And we also found a large number of trees morphed and mutated, it looked to be the work of a Witch." As Sid had finished Stein stepped in and nudged him out of the frame.

"I'm certain it was the work of a Witch, or should I say Witches. There was a struggle here no doubt, over what we're not sure. But aside from all of the ash and mutated plant life we found one fallen tree that was still on fire." Stein reached up and turned the screw in his head 'til it clicked in place.

Lord Death looked at him oddly. "And? Did you put it out?"

Stein shook his head. "No, we contained it instead, we're trying to keep it burning."

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"Because, the flames that burned these trees weren't orange," He looked up and gave a sadistic smile. "They were black."

* * *

Author: Well look at that... a Soul Eater fic... Thank you SilverBlood for fueling my addiction!

Voice from far off distance: YOU'RE WELCOME!

Well it's a prologue... but story none the less! I'm going to be honest, between updating this, my IZ fic and modified chapters I don't know how often it'll happen. So don't expect a weekly thing... but I will try!

If you click this button the Magical Pinata will grant all your wishes!

Kudos to ANYONE who got that reference.

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	2. Cryptic

"SOUL! I'm heading out for the Academy! I'll be back in few hours OK?" Maka pulled her jacket over her arms and peeked behind her shoulder to see if her weapon was listening.

Soul raised a hand to shoo her away. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You do this everyday."

Maka rolled her eyes and slipped out the door, zipping up her jacket as she went. Taking two stairs at a time she reached the bottom floor in four seconds flat, taking off down the road towards the Manor.

The wind wasn't quite as brutal and the clouds seemed to be thinning out a bit as the days went by. Still, Maka had to pull the collar end of the jacket over her mouth and ears since the wind that was blowing was a thin, icy chill.

As Maka strode down the empty street she could see the top of the Manor off in the distance. She never did understand why Kidd bothered to keep up with such an enormous house since he almost lived alone, it wasn't like his dad ever really "lived" there.

She reached the house as the wind began to pick up, banging on the door in hopes that it would be answered quicker. When she put her ear to the door she could faintly hear footsteps jogging down the hall, figuring it was one of the girls.

The door flew open and a very exhausted Kidd stood before her. "Sorry, I was upstairs." He stepped aside and invited Maka in, gently closing the door behind her.

"You're out of bed, are you feeling better?" she asked, unzipping her jacket and tying it around her waist.

"Much actually! I managed to find a bottle of aspirin in the kitchen." He smiled tiredly as they made their way to the living room.

Maka watched him plop onto the couch with a huff. "You know, you really shouldn't be moving around so much, you might make it worse again." She took a seat across from him and looked intently at him.

"How's everything at the Academy? Anything interesting happening?" He couldn't imagine there was but he really couldn't think of anything else to talk about.

Maka looked up at the ceiling and thought. "Well since you mention it, right before I left yesterday Shinigami-Sama did get a call from Sid and Professor Stein, but I didn't stay to find out what it was about."

"Well if I feel up to it I'll join you tomorrow and stop by. I haven't seen him days and well, you know how he gets." He leaned over and hung his head with a groan, fighting off the sudden light-headedness.

Maka jerked up and reched out to see if he was alright. "Kidd?"

He held up a hand and gave her a faint smile. "I'm fine, I've just been moving around a lot today, and I haven't eaten yet."

She sat back and glared at him. "You idiot, don't you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day?" Maka shook her head, sometimes she couldn't understand how she managed to put up with the guys she hung out with.

The back door opened and slammed shut, causing Kidd and Maka to look down the back hall. There was a squeal that echoed from around the corner as Patty appeared, bounding down the hall with utter joy. Liz trailed behind her, looking every bit as tired as Kid.

"Hi guys!" Patty yelled, taking a seat next to Maka with a large grin. "What'cha doin'?"

Maka cringed at the high pitched voice emanating from the small girl. "Uh, I just stopped by to check on everyone. I should get going, but I'll stop by tomorrow!" She stood and slipped on her jacket.

Kidd walked her to the door and waved as she yelled 'bye' and headed down the street.

After another short ten minute walk Maka began ascending the Academy's front steps. She hurried quickly to the front doors and burst inside, taking the front hallway to the Death Room's door. She knocked three times and entered, following the narrow path to the open room.

Lord Death was sitting at his table with a cup of hot tea, reading a large book that was laying open in front of him. "Hello there, Maka!" He waved her in and watched as she took the seat opposite him, removing her jacket. "How is everyone?"

Maka took a sip of her tea and and smiled, it tasted sweet and warm today. "They're good. Kidd was up and moving around this afternoon, but I told him not to rush himself, he still gets a little light-headed."

"Well at least he's feeling well enough to move around at all." He took another sip of his tea and closed the book. "Is the weather outside still as bad as everyone is complaining it to be?"

"I think it's clearing up a little more, but it's still really cold outside." As Maka took another sip of her tea she thought about what Kid had said earlier. "Shinigami-Sama... before I left yesterday you got a call from Sid and Professor Stein, what did they want, exactly?"

He looked at her and sighed. "Well..."

* * *

The leaves rustled on the ground as light, quick feet passed along the soft dirt floor of the woods. The small, lithe body darted through the trees as it fled from its pursuers.

Stein and Sid wove around the trees after the girl, slowing falling behind her as she easily passed through the dense foliage. Stein could see up ahead where the edge of the forest stopped and the desert began, giving way to the open, sandy terrain.

As the girl reached the edge of the treeline her foot plunged into the soft sand, twisting her ankle and sending her falling to the ground. When she pushed herself back up and looked behind her Stein pinned her to the ground, with Spirit's blade at her throat.

The others soon caught up and crowded around them, holding up their weapons and aiming for the girl's head. She fought against Stein and tried to push him over.

"Get off of me!" she yelled, sill struggling to free herself.

Stein only pressed the scythe deeper into her throat, almost cutting her flesh. "It's no use fighting, you wont be able to get up."

The girl glared at him, her piercing violet eyes giving off an evil intent. A thin, spaded tail slid around from behind her and snaked it's way around Stein's leg, yanking it out from under him. She hopped up to her feet and took a fighting stance, backing away from him.

With a grunt Stein pulled himself up and gave her a sadistic smile. "My, aren't you a clever Witch. Were you the one who set fire to all those trees?"

"Witch?" The girl straightened and lowered her fists. "I'm not the Witch, the Witch was coming after _me_."

Sid stepped forward and stood in front of her. "Then what's your business here?"

"Yes," Stein looked at her curiously, his smile never faltering. "Why are you all the way out here?"

She looked from the zombie to the creep, not trusting either them at all. "I'm looking for someone. But that's not really any of your business, is it?" She glared, her eyes shifting between the two.

Stein's smile changed, looking almost kind. "Well in that case we know someone who might be able to help." He lowered the scythe and looked over to Sid, silently telling him what to do.

Sid looked back to the girl, her eyes never losing their dangerous glare. "That is, if you can trust us long enough to get you there." He watched her closely, noticing her body relax.

"Fine, but if you give me any reason to hurt you don't think the fact that you're meisters with a death scythe present is going to save your lives." She rested her hands on her hips and nodded her head towards the city.

The crowd parted and Sid led the way, Stein keeping a watchful eye and Spirit at the ready. The small group slowly made thier way across the desert, watching as the sun sunk low into the sky.

* * *

"Well I'll see you later, Maka!" Shinigami-Sama waved as Maka smiled and headed out of the room, leaving him alone. Once he was sure she had left completely he turned to his mirror to check on the group.

Stein showed up on his mirror, his face tired and his glasses askew on his nose. Sid could be heard in the background, yelling back anf forth with someone off-screen. "Lord Death."

"Hey there, Stein! How's everything going? Did you find anything new?" Lord Death held up his and and waved, looking oddly at the people behind him. "What's going on back there?"

Stein turned his head and yelled for everyone to shut up, obviously irritated. "Sorry, we've been having trouble with this one. While we were in the woods we crossed paths with a little girl. When we pursued her she took off for the desert, it took us forever to catch her."

"Is she a Witch?"

"Well..." Stein looked back over his shoulder again and then back to Lord Death. "I don't think so, when we asked her she said that there was one chasing her though, but we haven't found any sign of that one."

"Hmmm... What else did you get out of her?"

"She's looking for someone, someone in Death City." He leaned in closer an lowered his voice. "We're escorting her to the Academy dungeons, we weren't sure what you wanted to do with her."

Shinigami-Sama thought for a moment, looking both worried but somehow excited at the same time. "Once she's here come let me know, I'd like to talk to her."

Stein nodded and ended the call, turning the screen black. Shinigami-Sama turned around and looked about the room, thinking deeply. If this situation was heading where he thought it was, then things were about heat back up again.

* * *

"Come on, Soul! You never come with me! The weather's not that bad." Maka was trying to pull Soul off the couch by his arm, knowing that he needed to get outside.

Soul only smiled his shark toothed grin and lowered his head. "But the wind's blowing, and I don't feel like getting my hair messed up, it makes me look uncool."

Maka huffed and turned around, eyeing her encyclopedia on the coffee table. She swiftly picked it up and raised her hand. "Makaaaaa... CHOP!" She slammed the book down on Soul's head, leaving a clean indent the width of her book.

"Alright!" Soul rubbed his head and pulled his jacket off the coat rack, slipping it on. "Let's hurry up and go then." He disappeared through the door with Maka right behind him, each taking two and three steps at a time down the staircase.

The wind wasn't blowing as harshly as it had been and the clouds were thin and white, letting the bright blue sky shine through. The sun laughed happily, knowing it was visible again.

Soul and Maka walked quietly down the street, noticing that plenty of people had decided to make the most of the nice day. The shops were getting business, the mailman was doing his rounds, and even Blair was meandering the streets.

"So..." Soul looked at Maka and waited for her to do the same. "Why did I need to come today?"

Maka glared at him and folded her arms. "Because, you've been inside almost every day since we were given our vacation! Besides, you looked bored anyway."

Soul grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It's not like Lord Death is gonna have much to say, I'll probably get bored there too."

With a silent and swift hand, Maka whacked Soul on the back of the head. "If you'd have been going lately with me you'd know that some things have been happening. Maybe he'll tell us what if you stop being an idiot."

"Yeah, sure." Soul rolled his eyes and stayed quiet after that. At least the wind wasn't blowing, so that was a plus.

For the next five minutes it took to reach the Manor the two kept silent, until Maka stopped in front of the front door. It didn't look as gloomy or intimidating since the sun was shining, which Maka was glad for.

"What are we doing here?" Soul asked, annoyed that he already had to go to the Academy.

Maka paid him no attention and calmly knocked on the door, once again pressing her ear against the wood. The first few seconds were silent, until she heard the familiar sound of footsteps quickly advancing, jogging. As soon as the door opened she took out her spare chopping book and raised it high above her head, bringing it quickly, but as gently as she could manage, down upon Kidd's head.

"Ow!" He held his hands over his throbbing head and cringed away from Maka. "What was that for!"

"You idiot, I told not to push yourself, you shouldn't be running around the house like that." She slid the book back into her jacket and scowled at him. "You're almost as bad as Soul."

Kidd stood up and straightened out his jacket. "You didn't have to hit me." he said, rubbing the back of his head again. "I'm still in pain you know."

Maka huffed and dragged him a few feet down the road before he jerked away and began walking for himself. Soul followed, staying a ways back from Maka with Kidd, not wanting to suffer anymore painful chops.

The group walked in silence down the street, listening to the sounds of the city, it's people shuffling along in their usual quiet lives. It was peaceful, as most people would describe it, the slight whistle of the breeze mixed with the muffled noises of the people moving about and the small, ordinary city sounds.

"LUST!" There was an outburst from behind the group, which came from one of the men walking out of the Deathbucks cafe. He'd flung his latte in the air and assumed the swooning position.

The three looked back behind them to see why he'd screamed, which, in turn, started a chorus of howling guys that followed. Through the mass of men and boys Maka could make out a black dress and purple hair, Blair.

She came skipping through the mob, her hat and curls bobbing with the energetic bounce in her step. "Hey there scythey boy!" As she reached the group she pulled Soul against her chest and smothered him with a hug.

"Blair!" he cried, flailing his arms for help.

Maka watched, amused, as Kidd pulled on Soul's right arm to try and free him from the kitten's boob hug. After about a minute or so Maka had decided that enough was enough, now wanting people to figure out they lived together and start stalking them around the streets.

"Blair," she said calmly, pointing her finger at said cat. "Down." She made a motion with her finger, jabbing in the downward direction.

Soul was released and pulled to his feet, blood spurting from his nose as usual. "Jeez, Blair! Did you have to do that in public?"

The kitten only giggled and pounced onto his shoulder, landing squarely on her paws. "Oh come on, don't act like you didn't like it."

"... It's a talking cat." Though Kidd had seen Blair on several occasions, the fact that her true form was cat still didn't seem to settle with him. And he'd seen a lot of strange things in his life, things that normal people would be better off not knowing of their existence. But a talking purple cat baffled him to no end.

"So scythey boy, where are we going?" Blair pulled herself ontop of his head, letting her paws fall lax around him. Soul scowled to himself and slid the cat off of his head, tossing her to Kidd. "Hey!" She ended up on his face, holding on to avoid falling to the ground.

Kidd had a short, minor spaz moment as his vision was obscured by a blob of purple fur. He took Blair off his face and studied her, no matter how hard he tried he just didn't get it.

"Hey there cutie."

Then again, maybe he didn't want to. He let go of her and put Soul between himself and the strange animal, hoping that she'd get the hint.

Blair huffed to herself and padded along behind them quietly, flicking her tail as she looked around. Once they reached the stairs in front of Shibusen she bounded off ahead of them and headed inside.

* * *

Shinigami-Sama heard the door at the end of the hall open and close, letting him know that someone was on their way in. He turned to face the hall and waited quietly, not knowing who to expect. He could hear some scuffling, then a growl followed by a yell of pain, not surprised to see Spirit emerge from the hall. However, seeing Stein with the prison girl towing behind and the long gash in Spirits jacket was something of a surprise.

Stein stepped aside, keeping hold of the chain that was attached to the girls restraints. "Careful, she bites."

The girl looked up at Shinigami-Sama, her violet eyes going wide. At first it was just the feeling of 'right,' then she finally put the pieces together. "Shinigami-Sama!"

Said person looked back at the small girl, watching as she fell to her knees, keeping her watchful stare. "What's your name?"

At first she couldn't speak, overwhelmed with the essence of pure joy and near completion. "Bryn." she said quietly, letting her beaming smile relax into a gentle grin.

"You aren't a Witch are you?" Shinigami-Sama leaned down to her level and slightly tilted his head to one side.

Bryn shook her head slowly, still smiling. "Nope."

"I didn't think so." He stood up straight and held up both hands. "Well then welcome to the Academy!"

"Why thank you!" said a high-pitched voice.

Everyone looked behind Bryn as she turned her head around. In the middle of the floor sat a small purple cat with a wide-brimmed with hat, the tip squarely curling to the side. Staying on all four she melted into her human form, holding up a curled hand to her face. "Meow."

* * *

Maka, Soul and Kidd walked down the hall that lead to the Death Room, the clacks of their shoes on the floor echoed off the walls and traveled throughout the Academy.

"Hey guys!" Black Star and Tsubaki emerged from around the corner, waving their hands in greetings. "Are you here to see Lord Death, too?"

"We figured that we'd stop by since we haven't spoken to him in a while." Tsubaki smiled and clasped her hands behind her back.

Maka nodded her head in response. "I got Soul and Kidd to come along with me today." She smiled to Tsubaki, feeling accomplished.

Black Star turned to Kidd and smiled. "Glad to see you're finally getting better! We didn't want you to go and die on us!" He laughed and fisted his hands on his hips.

"You know," Kidd started. "If it wasn't for me we wouldn't have been able to beat the kishin down enough to win. You'd better be thanking me." With that he walked off and let the group follow behind him, still chatting as though they hadn't heard him.

When they came upon the large entrance door Kidd raised his hand and knocked before proceeding inside. Once the door opened loud screams and laughs drifted down the hall, both voices distinctively feminine that were accompanied by an explosion.

The rest of the group looked ahead and cautiously moved forward, their eyes and ears open for anymore strange happenings. As they inched along the hall the noises got louder and the explosions got closer. Once they reached the edge of the hall they could barely make out what was in front of them because of the smoke cloud.

The figure that was farther back was obviously Blair, the hat and voice were a dead give away, but that other person... "Pum, pum pumpkin, Halloween Canon!"

A burst of purple energy exploded from the floor where Blair was crouching, sending it twords the figure and the rest of the group, who fell to the floor to avoid getting hit.

As the energy passed by it cleared the cloud of smoke, the mysterious girl coming cleanly into view as she gracefully passed above the attack, twisting to land on her feet.

Soul jumped up and glared at the magical cat. "Jeez Blair! Are you trying to kill us all!"

The girl turned to look, her eyes immediately finding a pair of bright amber eyes that seemed to stare into her very soul.

* * *

Author: Once again, big thanks to SilverBlood for violently forcing me to write this.

Voice: YOU'RE WELCOME!... AGAIN!

Author: I didn't think I could write this much so fast... If only I could do the same for my IZ fic... oh well.

If you don't leave a review then Black Star will

break into your house and eat all of your cookies.

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	3. FatherSama

"Scythey boy!" Blair wrapped her arms around Soul's waist and hoisted him up, his face buried within the kitten's chest. "Oh I missed you!" She gently set him back on the floor and curled herself into cat form, stretching out across the back of his neck. She looked over at Kidd and smiled, pawing his face to get his attention. "I missed you too, cutie!"

Kidd groaned and looked away, fixing his stare on one of the many odd crosses that were dotted about the room.

"Hey cat, we aren't done. I still need to kick your butt!" The girl pointed her finger at Blair and scowled, watching as the magical cat proceeded to brush off its ears.

"That's okay ,Girl, I can beat you any time I want, I just don't feel like it anymore." Blair stuck her tongue out and flicked her tail.

The girl furrowed her brow even more and put her hands on her hips. "You? Beat me? You're a good fighter and all, I'll give you that much, but you'd never last more than five minutes if I was really trying to kill you."

Blair looked unamused, he eyes half lidded as she let her mouth make way for a yawn. "Oh please, you're just a little human girl."

"Human! Don't insult me!"

Maka huffed and rolled her eyes, stepping up to the unknown girl. "So what's your name? Are you new student? I haven't seen you around before." She smiled.

The girl turned towards Maka and smiled back. "My name is Bryn, and I'm not a student, but I just got here. Are you Maka?"

Maka nodded. "Well if you're not a student then what brings you to the Academy?" She watched as Bryn's eyes darted over to Kidd and lingered before they returned to her. "Oh, do you know each other? He's never mentioned you..."

Bryan shifted her weight onto her left foot and folded her arms. "No, not officially anyways," she smiled to herself. "but that's about to change."

Shinigami-Sama slid over to the group and put his hands together. "There will be plenty of time for conversation later. Right now I'd like to talk to you all."

The group looked up at him, noticing the large table with cups of tea sitting behind him. They each took a seat on the small cushions and sipped on their tea, waiting for Lord Death.

Shinigami-Sama sat in his respectful seat and looked at the six children and magical cat that sat before him. He honestly had hoped this wouldn't have happened until a few years down the road, but Kidd's soul's wavelength was much stronger than his when he was that age.

"Hey, Lord Death," Black Star had finally decided to pipe up. "If this girl isn't a student, then what the hell is she doing here? Is she trying to be bigger than me!" He glared at the red headed female from across the table. "'Cause if you are you can just give up, no one will ever be bigger than me! I surpassed the Gods!"

Bryn blinked slowly, already not liking this kid much. "Good for you, now maybe if you'll shut your face he'll tell you why I'm here... idiot."

"Anywho!" Shinigami-Sama clasped his hands together and smiled as best he could. "Bryn here isn't a student of the Academy, since she's not a meister or a weapon. And the amount of magick she possesses exceeds most of us here so-"

"MAGICK!" Black Star stood and pointed an accusing finger at Bryn. "You're a Witch aren't you! Are you trying to make a deal with Lord Death like Medusa!"

"Medusa?" Bryn looked disgusted. "Don't compare me to that hag, she only wished she had my necronomical magick abilities."

Everyone stared in confusion, Soul on the edge of transforming to try taking her soul. Shinigami-Sama raised a hand and brought it down on Black Star's head, causing the young assassin to fall to the ground, blood spurting up from his mouth.

"As I was saying..." The group looked nervously at the headmaster, fearing that horrible chop of his. "Maka," He looked at the meister until their eyes met. "Have you read up on the different types of creatures like kishins and Witches?"

She nodded happily. "Yeah, I checked out a book a while ago called The Mystic's Guide to the Inhuman. I never knew there were so many different types of creatures." Her smile faltered, beginning to see where this conversation was going. "Why?"

"Wasn't there a section in there about Demons?" Shinigami-Sama asked.

"HUH!" Maka's face paled as her body stiffened. "NO WAY! Not already..." She sunk further into the floor, her head falling onto the table. "Why can't we go just a month without something weird happening?"

Bryn pursed her lips. "Hey..."

"Oh great." Blair looked over towards the girl and almost hissed. "Listen, Girl, there's not enough room in this City for the two of us, so you'll just have to take your Reaper boy and go away 'cause I was here first!"

"What...?" Kidd turned to the strange animal and raised a brow.

Bryn shot a glance at Shinigami-Sama and threw her fists into the air. "You didn't tell him yet!"

"Uhh... Well to be honest, I didn't think you'd find him so quickly." Shinigami-Sama raised his hands and tried to calm Bryn down. "I was a lot older before it happened to me!"

"... I don't get it..." Soul stared, trying desperately to grasp onto the situation. "What the hell are they talking about?"

Maka raised her head and sighed. "She's a Demon..."

"Meaning...?" Soul made a motion with his hand for her to elaborate.

"Demons," Lord Death began, after having successfully gotten Bryn to sit quietly. "Are to Grim Reapers like weapons are to meisters in a way." He watched as his son's face contorted into to absolute confusion. "Like how meisters and weapons are able to match their soul's wavelengths, Reapers and Demons do the same thing, but since the two are immensely powerful on their own together their enemies should fear them like we fear madness."

Black Star jumped back up and pointed his finger at Bryn again. "I knew it! You are trying to surpass me! Well it wont happen, 'cause like I said, I surpassed the Gods!"

Kidd grabbed the silver cloth that was wrapped around his neck and yanked him back down. "I would appreciate it if you'd shut up, I'd like to hear what my father has to say if you don't mind." He looked directly at Bryn for the first time, a cold shiver running down his spine. "You'll have to excuse him, he lacks social skills."

"So," Tsubaki looked up to Lord Death and blinked. "What does this mean for Kidd?"

"Well, for right now not a whole lot. He'll have to be around Bryn for a while before their souls will be able to resonate normally. Kidd, that means she'll be staying with you three at the Manor."

"What! I can't just let a total stranger into my house! Are you crazy!" Kidd stood and began fuming at his father, thinking for sure he'd lost his mind.

"Hey wait a minute!" Bryan jumped to her feet and grabbed the front of his jacket, pulling him halfway across the table. "I didn't cross half the country for you to turn me down! Do you have any idea how many nights I spent on the street! The least you can do is offer me a place to stay!"

"Oh no..." Tsubaki hung her head and looked at Maka. "This is going to get worse before it gets better isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

Bryn pulled Kidd closer, their noses pressed against each other. Kidd scowled grabbed her wrist, trying to make her let go. "I don't even know you, you'll have to convince me that I can trust you."

As she narrowed her eyes Bryn let go of his jacket and thrust her palm against his chest, sending light pulses of her soul's wavelength into his. His eyes flared blue as he staggered backwards, the pulses syncing with his heartbeat.

Black Star's eyes widened as his mouth fell open, he'd seen this before. "Hey, the same thing happened when we were fighting the kishin!"

Bryan lowered her hand and Kidd's eyes returned to normal, half lidded and dull. "I saw the fight with Asura, you're lucky I was there."

Kidd slowly sat back down and held his head is his hands, glancing up to his father. Shinigami-Sama rubbed Kidd's back and patted his head.

"The Lines of Sanzu can only be used when a Reaper's soul is in sync with his Demon's, so we really owe it to Bryn that she was there, otherwise who knows how the fight would have ended." he said, glancing over to Bryn and her smug face.

"But we didn't see her inside the Kishin's force field, how could she have helped us?" Soul leaned over and looked at Lord Death, hoping to get an answer.

Bryn rolled her eyes. "I was in the forest right by the City and Asura. It wasn't all that hard to find."

Soul still looked confused. "Ok, but you still weren't inside with us, how did you manage to connect with Kidd's soul's wavelength like that? There was no way to get through the barrier."

"No need, the wavelength of a Reaper's soul is far greater than that of a normal meister's or weapon's. The only hard part was being able to force enough of my soul's wavelength through the barrier for it to work since he was half dead." Bryn looked down, her heart contracting painfully as she remembered how hard it had been, thinking he was dead and desperately trying to revive him.

Kidd looked up at the Demon girl, feeling his heart wretch in the same unholy contorted way. "You saved my life... You saved us all."

Bryn lifted her head and stared, the aching slowly melting away. "I had to."

He gave her a small smile and attempted to stand up, only getting about halfway before he fell to his knees again. He held his aching head and moaned, breathing slowly and deeply to drive away the pain.

Shinigami-Sama dismissed the rest of the group, urging them to stop by again the following day. Once they were heading out he scooped Kidd up off the floor with one hand and gently massaged Kidd's temples with the he made for the exit himself he called to Bryn. "You can stay in the Manor if you'd like, Kidd was only being difficult."

Bryn smilled and thanked him, tagging along as they left the Death Room. As she caught up and walked along beside them a flicker of light sparked behind her and a long, skinny, spaded tail whipped out behind her. She sped up about two paces and gently wound her tail around Kidd's wrist as his whole left arm hung to his side.

The trio quietly walked down the halls towards the front exit, Kidd letting out a periodical groan of discomfort at which Shinigami-Sama gently readjusted him in his arm. As they reached the front doors and the harsh rays of orange light beamed in Kidd pulled his father's massive hand over his face to shield himself.

The walk to the Manor was just as quiet, the gentle bustle of the City was dulled and the sun's laughing had ceased. There was a loud yell every now and then as Blair passed the shops, the men doing all they could to keep composed.

Shinigami-Sama suddenly made a left turn and stopped in front of two very large iron gates. He reached out his free hand and pushed them open, causing Kidd to cringe against him from the loud groan of the metal.

Bryn's tail fell away from Kidd's wrist and hung limp behind her. Her violet eyes marveld at the magnificent building in front of her. "You guys _live_ here!"

"I usually stay at the Academy, it's just Kidd and his weapons that stay here." He led Bryn across the lawn to the front door.

_Oh right,_ she though to herself. _He's a meister, so he'll have a weapon... wait, he said weapons... oh god..._ "Oh ok, I'm sure we'll get along just fine!" Her smile was fake, knowing that she usually didn't get along with others all too well. She turned the doorknob and pushed open the massive wooden slab, making way for the other two.

As she was closing the door behind them there came a loud squeal from one room over, accompanied by a little blonde girl that looked to be about twelve or so. "Hi Kidd!"

"Patti! Be quiet." he replied, holding his hands over his ears. "I'd kindly appreciate it."

The girl slapped both hands over her mouth and whispered a 'sorry' before noticing the others. "Hi Kidd's dad! Hi-!... Uhm..."

"Bryn."

Patti blinked and held a finger to the corner of her mouth. "Oh, are you a new student?"

Bryn shook her head and wrapped her tail back around the boy's wrist, feeling him weakly curl his first two fingers under the base of the spade.

"... Well hi anyways!" Patti waved and trotted off to find her older sister, leaving them alone for the time being.

Whth a shake of her head and an amused smirk Bryn turned to Shinigami-Sama, who pointed upstairs. "Second door on the right." Bryn nodded and led them upstairs, careful not to pull too far ahead. Once she reached the top of the stairs and made her way to the door she let go of Kidd and pulled the door open.

Shinigami-Sama twisted to fit through the door, motioning for Bryn to light the candles. When there was light in the room he pulled down the comforter on Kidd's bed and gently laid him down, pulling them back up to his waist. As he turned to leave he felt Kidd grab the edge of his hand, weakly giving him a tug to tell him not to go. For a moment Shinigami-Sama seemed to hesitate before sitting on the edge of the bed again. He raised a hand and softly began to stroke his hair, causing Kidd's breathing to slow as he drifted to sleep.

Bryn had corckscrewed her tail and was sitting with her legs crossed, peering at them from the foot of the bed. It didn't take long before Kidd fell asleep completely, rolling over onto his side and curling into a ball. Bryn stood with Shinigami-Sama, watching him move to the door.

He turned to small Demon and raised a hand. "Valerian worked best for his pain." He then headed out the door and disappeared.

Bryn looked around the room, noting the double dressers and mirrors and... the _symmetry_. With a sigh she manifested two bowls on the dressers, filling them heavily with Valerian. She clicked her fingers and they began to smoke, filling the room with a pleasant aroma.

Once the room was filled with thin wisps of vapor Bryn headed out of the room and quietly shut the door behind her. She tip-toed down the staircase and rounded the corner into the living room where the two other girls were sitting.

"Oh, hi." The taller of the sisters turned to her and smiled. "You must be Bryn, Lord Death mentioned you'd be staying here."

Bryn took a seat on the couch opposite the two, noticing that Patti had remained oblivious while she read her book. "Yeah, I really hope I'm not intruding, I know this is kind of sudden and all."

"No no, it's fine! It actually gets a little boring around here sometimes. I heard you already met Kidd and Patti, my name's Liz." She crossed her arms and looked over towards the stairs. "So what's wrong with him now?"

"Um, I kind of forced my soul's wavelength on his and it sort of didn't go all too well. But I've got incense burning for him so he should be fine." She smiled sheepishly, feeling awful for it.

Liz looked almost impressed. "Wow, your soul's wavelength did that?"

"Yeah," said Bryn. "I guess he was still sore from the last time I did it. The Sanzu Lines took more out of him than I thought." She looked towards his room and frowned.

"You did that!" Liz leaned forward, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

Bryn nodded her head. "Mhmm, well I helped anyways."

Liz sat back and looked over at Patti, yanking the book out of her hands. "Patti, it's rude to read while we have guests over."

"It's OK, I'm used to it. Half the kids at my orphanage did the same thing." Bryn smiled happily, slightly missing the large brick building.

Liz looked surprised again, but didn't press the question, knowing it was probably a touchy subject. Instead, the three sat and exchanged conversations, skipping topics at regular intervals. They talked about the goings on, the fight against Asura, personalities, other people and the like. Bryn was eventually given an explanation for the ridiculous amount of symmetry and the unhealthy extremes that Kidd went to to keep it just.

Just as they were touching onto the topic of their first day at the Academy there was a soft click from upstairs. Bryn looked up and watched Kidd imerge from around the corner, looking infinately better.

"Oh, hey Kidd. Glad to see you're up." Liz turned to her meister and watched him slowly walk towards the couch, being careful not to move too fast. "How do you feel?"

Kidd looked up at her and gave her a weak smile. "I feel much better, I'm sure I don't look it though."

"Actually," Bryn pulled her legs up and sat criss crossed next to him. "You look a lot better, I take it the valerian helped?"

He nodded gently andhunched over a little. "Yes, thank you. Did Dad tell you?"

Bryn smiled, noticing he smelled strongly of the herb currently smoking in his room. "Yeah, he said it'd help, and it made you smell good." She shrugged and looked back to Liz and Patti.

"Uh, thanks." Kidd looked away towards to the living room and rested his chin on his hands. "Did Dad leave yet?"

"I don't think so," Liz stood and peered around the corner of the living room. "He's outside."

Kidd slowly rose to his feet, stretching out his muscles. "Thanks Liz, I'm going to go see him before he heads back to the Academy." As he left the room he gave Bryn one last thankful smile before disappearing.

When Kidd reached the sliding glass door he only slightly opened it, squeezing through as small of an opening as he could fit through comfortably. Once outside he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked up next to Shinigami-Sama, looking in the same general direction as his father.

The two stayed quiet for a moment, watching as the leaves from the cherry blossom tree in the backyard were plucked off by the wind, getting carried off into the distance.

Kidd looked to his left and up at his father, curious as to why he hadn't left. Usually he didn't spend much time at the Manor because ever since Mom left he couldn't bare to set foot inside. "Dad..."

"You know, the flowers on that tree used to be much brighter. It seems like ever since she left they started losing their color." Shinigami-Sama looked down at Kidd and smiled.

"Dad, you don't even remember what it used to look like, it's always been that color." Kidd sighed, sometimes he felt like his father was being ridiculous on purpose.

Shinigami-Sama took one last look at the tree before turning around and heading back inside, Kidd following close behind. The two walked to the front door, getting "hi"s as they passed by the living room. Kidd opened the door for his father and smiled at him as he stepped back outside.

"Thanks for bringing me home." Kidd looked up to his father and gave him a half smile.

Shinigami-Sama did his best to return the gesture and held a hand up. "You're very welcome, son. I'll be at the Academy if you need me, I love you!"

"Yeah I know... I... I love you too, Dad."

* * *

Author: Okay, I'm going to post the next chapter of VfL before starting on the next chapter for this.

Kidd: Were't they always that pastel color?

Shinigami-Sama: No they weren't! They used to be magenta!

Author: YES!...

If you review then I'll have SoMa fluff in the next chapter!

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	4. Food War

"Well I don't care who she is! If she thinks she can just act all high and mighty then she needs to think again! If she even TRIES to be bigger than me then I'll show her what for!" Black Star huffed down the side of the street next to his friends, who had long ago given up in trying to calm him down.

Maka yanked her book from her jacket for the fifth time and slammed it down on his head, growling unecissarily. "If you don't shut up I WILL bust your head open!"

Black Star rubbed his head and grumbled under his breath, glaring angrily at Maka, who only returned a vicious snarl.

"Well I think she seems really nice, she did help us against the Kishin." Tsubaki smiled and looked at the others, hopfully making Black Star see that he should at least be thankful.

"She didn't help us, she was only there because of Kidd... prissy little rich freak." Soul muttered, making sure to keep that last comment to himself.

"You weren't even there! You didn't see what she did!" Black Star balled his hands into fists and yelled in Souls face, steam coming out of his ears.

Maka screamed and yanked out her book and her spare, which she was thankful she had, and wailed on both of them, each recieving four good chops. "I am SICK and TIRED of you two COMPLAINING! SHUT THE HELL UP!" When Maka had finished yelling at the two idiot boys she calmly returned the books to their places and ignored both of them.

Tsubaki sighed helplessly, knowing full well that no matter what they did boys of the group were always going to be particularly difficult. "What do you think of her Maka?"

Said meister blinked and looked up at Tsubaki like she hadn't been there for that last fifteen minutes. "Huh?"

"What do you think of Bryn?" she repeated.

"Oh." Maka thought, wanting to be honest but not entirely mean. "Well, I don't really know her so I can't make a very good judgement... But she seemed nice enough." She nodded to herself, approving of the opinion she had come up with.

Tsubaki smiled and nodded her head slightly, a smile playing across her face. "I think so too. What do you think Soul?" She turned her head around and stared at the scythe child, waiting for him to notice.

Once Soul finally looked up and noticed her wide eyes he vaguely recalled her question. "Eh, I don't particularly like her, but it's like Maka said, we don't know her yet."

Maka smiled, then suddenly gasped as her hands flew to cover her mouth. "Oh no!"

"What?" Tsubaki and Soul looked at her worridly.

She turned to them and her eyes wodened. "Didn't Kidd invite us over for dinner tonight! I totally forgot!"

Soul rolled his eyes and scowled at her. "Maka, he's got weird things goin' on in his house, I don't think the dinner is still on. Besides, that means dinner with that Bryn chic, which I don't look forward to."

Maka smacked him on the back of the head. "Soul! Don't be rude! We don't even know her!"

"I don't want to go to dinner with that freak either!" Black Star, who had recently shut up, decided that it was safe to speak again, soon finding he was oh, so wrong. The Maka Chop left a thick dent on top of his head, which at one point he was sure it was fuming.

Tsubaki sighed and shook her head. "Black Star, you're gonna have to learn to be more accepting of people, espeacially if you don't even know them!" She then tunred to Maka, smiling again. "I don't think Kidd would cancel dinner plans because of his guest, he's too much of a gentleman to do that. I'd still love to go if you're going, Maka."

"Of course I'm going, whether Soul is or not." She turned to him and gave him the evil eye, silently threatening to blackmail him with the picture of last summers sleep over when he got caught falling asleep on Black Star's lap, courtesy of Patti, if he didn't go. "He did say it was just semi formal, right? Because otherwise I'd have to go shopping and it's almost four."

Tsubaki nodded. "Yep, you can wear that cute skirt and top you wore to last months dance at the academy!"

Maka put a finger to her chin, trying to decided if that was too much or not. "I think I could, yeah." She looked at the street branching off to the right, notincg Black Star and Tsubaki heading in that direction. "Well we'll see you at dinner!"

They waved to each other, Black Star and Tsubaki walking slowly towards the buidling two blocks down the road while Maka yanked Soul down the sidewalk, shouting a final goodbye.

Soul yelled at Maka to slow down or at least let him go, but she either said no or ignored him, never stopping until she had flown up three flights of stairs and was in front of their apartment door.

Maka dropped him and fished out the house key, jamming it into the deadbolt and opening the door. Once the door was open she sped off to her room and slammed the door shut, ignoring the half naked purple cat in the kitchen.

"Nya?" She turned to Soul and then looked back at Maka's door. "What's wrong with Maka-chan? Did you upset her again?" Blair glared at Soul, her ears folding back angrily.

He shook his head. "No, she forgot about the dinner Kidd had invited us to tonight and she's convinced it's still going on even though Bryn has officially invaded his house."

Blair's ears lowered farther. "Oh." She ignored Soul and finished fixing the small pile of tuna fish on her plate, pouring herself a glass a milk before making her way to the living room. She sat down next to albino, making sure it was too close for comfort for him.

"Um... Blair? Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Soul leaned away, reaching his hand out to the tissue box, horrified when he found it was empty. When he looked back over he could instantly feel the hot liquid enter his nose.

The cat twitched her ears happily and swallowed her mouthful of tuna, taking a sip of her milk. "Well," she started, sliding her tail under Soul's chin. "I _was_ wearing a mini skirt and my leather vest, but while I was walking home I got really hungry and the butcher wouldn't give me any free fish and I had no money, so..."

At this point Soul was well past the gushing of the blood phase, now laying backwards across the back of the sofa while a fountain of blood spurted from his nose. "I need a tissue."

Blair twitched her ears again, looking around. "I think we're out..." She heard Soul groan in frustration before getting an idea. "I know something thay'll work just as well!" She manifested two super plus tampons and shoved one in each of Soul's nostrils, clapping her hands together in pride.

Soul bolted upright and kept very still, wiggling his nose from right to left. "Blair, what's in my nose?" He glared at her, hoping that the horrible vision he had was wrong. She only giggled as Soul's face bleached, his mouth falling open.

As he started to protest he saw Maka, fully dressed except for the skirt that she could never get to zip up herself, pop into view. "Soul, could you-... Soul... WHY THE HELL ARE THERE TAMPONS UP YOUR NOSE!" Maka nearly dropped her skirt to the ground, having to grab fistfulls of it in order to keep it off the floor.

"OH MY GOD!" Soul went to reach for the tampons, yanking them from his nose forcefully, bringing at least a half pints worth of blood with them. "Blair! I asked for a tissue dammit!"

After Maka had gained her composure and figured out the situation she turned to Blair, holding up her skirt and flicking the zipper. "Blair, do you mind? I can't reach."

"Oh sure!" Blair reached for the zipper and gently pulled it up, tugging the skirt down so it rested snugly on Maka's hips. "Bu-tan loves your outfit, it brings out your curves."

Having recovered from the bloodloss, Soul allowed himself to snicker. "What curves? Remember, it's tiny tits we're talking about here." He ducked Maka's fifth edition encyclopedia and sprinted for his bedroom, laughing the whole way.

* * *

"What do you mean you're gonna cancel the dinner? What happens when everyone shows up?" Liz cocked her hip to one side and rested her wrist on it.

Kidd rolled his eyes, irritated that she obviously didn't understand that he had a solution for everything, a _perfect_ solution. "When they come I'll just tell them I still don't feel well."

Liz scoweled at him, leaning in closer for effect. "So you're just gonna lie to everyone? That doesn't sound very polite to me."

"Yeah! Besides, I'm sure everything will turn out fine!" Patti came up behind him, nearly scaring him half dead. "What could go wrong?"

Kidd twisted in anger and began to fume. "Way to go, Patti! You just jinxed everything! Now no matter what happens it'll all go wrong!" He balled his hands into fists as the smoke floated from his ears.

"Oh please," Bryn peeked in from around the archway, raising an eyebrow. "You of all people should know not to believe in any of that nonsense, you're a Shinigami for Witches sake! Luck is a myth."

"Nobody asked for your opinion!" Kidd pointed an accusing finger in her direction, grinding his teeth in frustration.

Bryn's eyes narrowed to slits, her tail flicking out from behind her. "Oh, so unwise." She slowly slid her head out of view, jabbing a finger towards Kidd once she couldn't be seen anymore. "You'll be sorry, Reaper Boy."

* * *

The doorbell rang as the grandfather clock chimed eight, making Kidd's eyes light up with happiness, he loved when things turned out perfectly. He strode down the foyer and adjusted his evening jacket, making sure he was presentable for his guests.

Once the door was opened all Kidd saw was a flash of purple before he felt the hardwood flooring greet his back. "BLAIR!" He wriggled underneath the fluffy monster, trying to get a free hand.

As Blair was about to pull him into one of her boob hugs a voice yelled at her from down the hall. Bryn leaned backwards from the dining room into the hall, pointing a finger. "Hey, get off." She swiped her finger and glared, watching the kitten huff and stand up.

"How come Bu-tan had to come to Kidd's stupid dinner?" Blair crossed her arms and pursed her lips, popping her hip out to the side. "It's not like I was invited anyways, I have no reason to be here."

Soul glared at the kitten and balled his hands into fists. "The last time we left you home alone we came back to the apartment and witnessed beastiality in more than enough ways! You are _NOT_ staying home by yourself!" His eye twitched when his mind began to replay the goat scenario.

Blair blushed furiously with anger and fully turned to him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "You said you'd never speak of it again! I told you I was DRUNK! And from far away that goat looked like a really big albino himalayin!"

"Blair... IT WAS A GOAT!" Soul's arms flew into the air as he emphasized the wrongness of the whole situation. As he opened his mouth to say more he felt a sense of awkward float by. He turned and saw a very well illustrated WTF expression upon Kidd's face.

"I'd ask if you guys are ready for dinner but I've lost my apetite..." he said in a monotoneous voice. Before his ears happened across anymore of Blair's _eventful_ nights he turned his back and walked back into the dining room.

Maka saw Soul's mouth reopen and smacked her hand across his face. "Dinner sounds _great_, let's move _away_ from this topic. I still have _nightmares_, let's just go." She grabbed the back of Soul's jacket and proceeded down the hall, dragging him with his heels on the ground. She made a mental note to either clean up the skid marks or make them symmetrical later.

The group took their places at the dinner table, the gentlemen seating the ladies after Kidd had scolded them about sitting down and leaving Maka and Tsubaki standing by their chairs. Once Kidd approved, and ignored the glares of annoyance from Soul and Black Star, he stood from his seat and clasped his hands together.

"Before we start I'd like to take the time to thank you all for attending. I understand that the events that have transpired lately have been a little overwhelming, but-"

Black Star leaned forward, slamming his forehead against the table and making the silverware clatter and chime. "UGH! Come on Kidd! Where's the FOOD!"

Soul snickered and bumbed his fist against Black Star's head. "Come on Black Star, don't you know it's rude to interrupt?"

"Thank you S-... don't be sarcastic. And you know that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and you executed the use of it very poorly." Kidd closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "As I was saying-"

"Yeah really, where's the food! I'm hungry!" Bryn pulled her legs out from under the table and rested her heels on the edge, crossing one foot over the other.

Soul and Black Star instantly shot their eyes over towards the girl, their mouths pulling apart into grins. They raised their hands and gave her a thumbs up, simultaneously agreeing, "We approve, she can stay."

She smiled back with an equally large grin, putting her hands behind her head and snickering. "As if I needed your approval."

Soul's and Black Star's faces lit up even more. It was rare to find a rebellious and rude girl these days, but one that was a total bitch? Those were even harder to come by.

"I'm trying to give a speech here! Do you mind?" Kidd fisted his hands and put them on his hips, glaring down at the demon girl.

Bryn looked up unimpressed, quirking a brow at him, and scoffed. "Yeah, acutally I do mind. I'm hungry, where's the food?" She watched happily as Kidd's face reddened with anger as he began to lose him temper.

"Well you're new here, so I'm going to cut you some slack, but-!" He stopped where he was, suddenly afraid for his life. The look Bryn gave him was so slasher and evil he thought he was going to pee his pants. "Bring out the food!"

Soul, Black Star and Bryn all smiled with satisfaction as the plates were brought in by various servants, all on beautifully crafted silver platters and in ornate serving bowls encrested with gems and precious metals.

The group quietly helped themselves to the dinner, looking in awe at the unusally lavish display. As they picked and prodded at the various plates and dishes the room grew deathly quiet and uncomfortable.

Bryn took this opportunity to take another stab at Kidd. "You better get used to listening to me, Reaper, less you want to wake up in a ditch missing an arm." She then shoved an entire meatball into her mouth and chewed, knowing she was out of talking for as long as she could make that meatball last.

However, Patti had not taken too kindly to her little comment and abruptly stood up, slamming her hands onto the table. She ignored her sister's complaints and orders, deciding to lay down the line. "Hey! Listen missy, I don't know who you think you are, but-!"

Without missing a beat Bryn lifted her spoon, swifty positioned a single pead and, with amazing force, launched it at Patti, having it knock her on the bridge of her nose. "I'm his Demon... And don't _ever_ call me 'missy'."

Patti, being overly hyperactive, to nothing into consideration and flung her entire plate of food at the evil girl, covering her in mashed potatos, spaghetti, cottege cheese and a whole corn on the cob, whitch Bryn missed by an inch.

"Oh, so you wanna play dirty huh?" Bryn sneered hatefully at the weapon, snatched up her glass of sparkloing grape juice and tossed it towards the other, coating the front of her white blouse in pruple liquid.

At this point everyone had refrained from saying a word or mocing a muscle, but the blue-haired idiot just couldn't resist himself, throwing Kidd's hopes of a nice dinner down the public toilet.

"FOOD FIGHT!"

He and Soul immidiately pitched in, catching both Tsubaki and Liz square in the face. Kidd ducked under the table to shield his suit from disaster while Maka yelled at everyone to stop, threatening them all with the Maka Chop of a lifetime.

The fight didn't cease in the least bit, and Liz had eagerly joined in when Soul ruined her shoes with his tuna. Tsubaki sort of stepped in, but only throwing small portions at Black Star, knwoing she wouln't feel bad about it later.

Soul picked up the cherry pie, grinned slyly and swiftly dove at his meister, nailing her square in the face. He didn't stick around to find out what her face looked like, knowing it was priceless. She, however, decided to wait until the opportune moment to strike back.

Kidd, who was still cowering under the table, continued yelling at everyone and tried to warn them about what might happen if Lord Death were to find out. But he was ignored completely, which he thought was almost a good thing.

As the fight raged on the food on the table began to migrate from person to person, eventaully ending up on the wall in some form or another. Black Star stashed up with the meatballs and took refuge on the chendelier, throwing meat bomb at everyone below. Liz and Patti were going at each other while Soul and Tsubaki had engaged in a serious battle.

Maka decided to take her chance, reaching over to the ice bowl where the drinks were kept and filled the rather large cup with crushed ice. She then hid the cup behind her back, giving Tsubaki and wink. When she recieved the OK Maka hurled herslef Soul, pulled open the back of his pants and poured the ice down his boxers. He let out a yell of pain as he danced about the room, spreading the ice to unspeakable places.

With a thundering laugh Black Star fell from the chandelier, meatballs flying everywhere, and rolled around on the floor until he was sure he had broken a rib. Once he was done having a fit and was able to stand on both feet he was knocked into the table by Soul, who continued to dance around in a bad imitation of the funky chicken.

Through all of the madness and food slinging, Kidd had managed to stay clean and dry under the table, however, he was getting quite fed up with how his dinner was turning out. He woundn't have minded a small argument... but an all out food war? He was sure he hadn't done anything to deserve this!

"ALRIGHT!" Kidd jumped to his feet and yelled until everyone had stopped, save for Soul, and glared diaprovingly at the group. "I... am _very_ disappointed in all of you. You know better than this... well," he turned to Bryn who had Patti by the hair while the blonde held a knife at her throat. "You're an exception I suppose, but simple maners are not too much to ask!"

Tsubaki, Maka, and Liz stood up and looked at their feet in shame, knowing that there would be a price to pay. Pattie, Bryn and Black Star, on the other hand, scoffed at Kidd's "hear-felt" speech and rolled their eyes, never moving from their spots.

Soul had finally been able to strip his pants and shake out his boxers before anything started turning blue. As the ice either melted or was dumped to the floor he sneered at Maka, though she couldn't see him, and began plotting ways to get her back.

Kidd looked everyone over and put his fists on his hips, sighing to himself. Then he lifted his head and addressed his guests, taking a mental note that Blair, who had been hiding under the table with him and was currently trying to sneak away, was not going to get out of the punishment. "Now, since you all took part in making a mess of my dining hall you may all take part in cleaning it up."

* * *

Bryn: Tch, you are so sadly mistaken.

Author: Well... this was fun to write. I should have the doodle for this chapter I drew at MegaCon up on my deviantART soon, I'll post a link somewhere...

Kidd: You! You completely RUINED my dinner! UNSYMMETRICALLY!

Author: ... would it be possible to _do_ that symmetrically?

Kidd: I would _find_ a way...


	5. Devious

Kidd paced around the room and surveyed the damage, the walls would have to be repainted, the carpet scrubbed raw, all the table covers and seat cushions washed repeatedly, and his chandelier would have to be repaired with the upmost care and patience, which he didn't have time for.

"Uhm, Kidd?" Maka said in a very small voice.

He turned to her and snapped, not really to her, but on behalf of just about everyone else. "WHAT IS IT MAKA?" he snarled, his fists shaking violently.

"Well... we'd all love to stay and help clean up." She smiled, elbowing Soul in the ribs as he opened his mouth to object.

"GOOD!" Kidd yelled, turning around to begin his rant. "Because it'll take me _days_ to clean up this mess on my own! I mean _really_!" He turned to glare at Soul and Black Star. "WHO RAISED YOU PEOPLE! Don't you know what manners are!"

Both Soul and Black Star looked down in shame, knowing the whole thing started because of them... mostly.

"AND YOU!" Kidd adverted his eyes and trained his stare at the annoyed demon child, pointing his finger in a very well illustrated accusing fashion. "You haven't been here for two days and you've already wreaked havoc upon my dining room!"

"Oh boo hoo! You need to stop being a sissy and get over yourself! You aren't perfect! I mean just look at your hair!" She stood up and flicked a strand that happened to be hanging so conveniently in front of his forehead.

He stomped his feet and leaned forward, his right eye twitching madly. "I didn't ask for these stupid things! They've only ever done me any good ONCE in my lif-!"

"WHICH YOU STILL HAVEN'T THANKED ME FOR YET! If it wasn't for me you'd all be DEAD!" She stood up straight and calmed herself. "Besides, I can't even believe that our souls are supposed to resonate, I don't even see how you do it with your _other_ weapons."

Bryn and Kidd then entered an very intense and animated argument about the sciences of soul resonation, why perfection must exist and how much of an ass Kidd could be.

While they were busy Patti had began to think. She usually never caught on to the little things, but she caught Bryn when she said 'other weapons,' but she couldn't figure out what she meant. _It's not like he's got other weapons that we don't know about... right?_ But then things started to click. _Well ever since Bryn got here she's been acting like she owns him... wait... just... ONE... minute._

"YOU CAN'T STEAL OUR MEISTER FROM US! HE'S OURS!" Patti stood up and shoved the two apart, glaring harshly at Bryn. "And I don't care who you think you are, but you can't waltz in here like you own the place! We're his weapons and you're not!" She then stuck out her tongue in a 'bllllph' fashion and put her hands on her hips.

Bryn raised a brow and snorted. "You're right, I'm not. I'm his _DEMON_ you moron! I've been paired with him since we were born!"

As Patti raised her finger and began to go off again, Kidd sat down on the floor and groaned, knowing this wasn't going to end soon.

"You're just jealous that we're his weapons and you're not!"

"I AM NOT! I'm better than a weapon!"

"No you aren't!"

"Yes I am!"

"Then how come you don't do anything!"

"Because he hasn't needed me to since the Asura incident!"

"You weren't even there!"

"I was on the outside!"

"OH YEAH! Then how did you help!"

"I'm the only one who can make his Sanzu Lines USEFUL!"

"NUH UH!"

"YES HUH!"

"PROVE IT!"

Bryn had officially had it with the blonde twerp and snapped. She raised her hands and a small red Kidd soul appeared at the tips of her fingers, the Sanzu Lines flaring out and coming to a point in the center of his soul. The lines in Kidd's hair began to form perfect rings around his head as his hands started to glow. Bryn began sending purple sparks of her own soul's wavelength into the imitation soul she held in her hands.

The rest of the group backed up against the wall as Kidd, his eyes glowing an intense blue, raised his hands out in front of him. The pulsing red energy from Bryn's soul radiated from his hands and they formed into fists.

With a final scream and the last wavelength, Bryn imploded the soul in her hands, forcing the energy from it to Kidd's body. There was a brief flash of light and a bright red explosion burst from the shinigami's hands, making the mansion shake and rattle.

Bryn took a deep breath and lowered her hands, dropping them just as Kidd collapsed to the ground. She smiled dauntingly at Patti and sat down in the nearest chair. "I told you so."

Maka and Tsubaki picked Kidd up as his eyes opened and helped him to his feet. Once he was stable and could stand by himself they moved away, knowing he noticed the large gaping hole in the side of his mansion. He then screamed at the unsymmetrical horror and promptly ened up back on the floor.

"Look what you've done," Liz started, crossing her arms. "We've ruined dinner, destroyed half the house and now Kidd's passed out on the floor." She gave both Bryn and her sister The Look, before dragging Kidd's ass into the living room and away from the madness.

"See! I knew you were nothing but trouble!" Patti yelled, pointing angrily at Bryn before running after her sister.

Bryn looked surprised. "OH YEAH! LIKE YOU DIDN'T CONTRIBUTE TO THE SITUATION!" she yelled back, huffing and sinking lower into her chair. "Stupid dumb blond... doesn't know who she's dealing with..."

Black Star and Soul took the oportunity to try and sneak out of what was left of the manor, only to be caught by a book to the head, courtesy of Maka.

"Oh no you don't, you're staying here to help clean up your mess until Kidd wakes up again!" She grabbed the two by the backs of their shirts and dragged them into the kitchen, yelling at them at how disappointed she was the whole way there.

Tsubaki and Liz went around the table to collect the dirty dishes and pick up any shattered remains , doing their best the sort out the dish pieces from the chandelier pieces. When Tsubaki got around to Bryn she swiftly removed her plate and tried to hide her intimidated expression. She then hurried off into the kitchen to clean them up, sending Liz back to make a second round.

"Alright Bryn," Liz began, taking the seat nearest the other. "What exactly just happened?"

The demon girl looked up and scowled at the weapon. "What does it look like? I just destroyed half the place."

Liz nodded. "Yeah, ya did. But what happened with Kidd? How are you able to do that? I thought that imense power only came around when our souls resonated."

Bryn scoffed and gave Liz a smile. "Are you all this arrogant? I thouht the Demons had more credit around here, what with helping to save the world and all."

"You aren't making any sense."

"Well then," Bryn stood and turned to walk away. "Why don't you go ask your meister about it." She then left the room to huff and puff by herself.

The next hour was spent with Soul, Black Star and Maka picking up the dining room and mopping the floor under and around the table. Black Star had been in charge of scrubbing the walls and ceiling once he was done with his section of the carpet. Soul, still shivering from the ice invasion to his pants, was given the job of wiping down and buffing the table, as Maka put it; "Until I can see straight through to the floor!"

"Dumb Maka..." Soul grumbled, glancing angrily over at his meister, who was busy trying to viciously remove the red stains from the bleach white curtains.

Maka looked up and glared. "I heard that Soul! And if it wasn't for you and Balck Star-"

"Hey!"

"None of this would have happened!" Maka said angrily, glancing up at the ninja when she mentioned his name.

Soul's face reddened and he held up a finger to protest. "It wasn't just our fault! That demon witch... BITCH... started the whole thing!"

Maka stood up and put her hands on her hips, showcasing her irritation quite clearly. "But you reacted! If you would left left well enough alone we would all be having a nice dinner right about now and do _NOT_ think for a second, Black Star, that I'm not yelling at you too."

Black Star, who had previously been snickering at the albino, was now glaring hatefully at the wall he _should_ have been cleaning instead, all while mumbling under his breath. "Stupid, flat-chested-"

"I'M NOT DEAF!" Maka screached, throwing her spare scrubbing brush straight for Black Star's rather large head.

It was then that Tsubaki entered the room and held her hands up to her chest. "Oh wow, things are coming along nicely! The rug is clean and you're doing a great job on the curtains, Maka!"

The meister smied. "Thanks Tsubaki, how're the dishes coming? Are they done already?"

"Yep, do you need any help with the curtains?" Tsubaki peered behind Maka and inspected the curtains thoroughly.

With a small smile the meister shook her head and the two walked out into the foyer, leaving the boys to finish up. Once they rejoined with the rest of the group and saw that Kidd was up and doing fairly well the two sat down and relaxed.

"Is it completely necessary for her to _live_ with us?" Liz asked while she propped up her meister on some pillows.

Kidd brought a hand up to his head and groaned. "Well my Father thinks it is, but to be honest... I'd like to get used to the idea first." He wearily looked over to Maka, silently pleading to the girl.

"Uh... I don't know... I'd have to talk to Soul and Blair about it..." Mak trailed off, lightly scratching the back of her head.

"Please, if Black Star didn't hate her so much I'd send her off with him and Tsubaki, and it'll just be until I can get the manor repaired." He begged, bringing his hands together when he didn't get a straight answer. "Please Maka! I just got over being ill! I can't deal with all of this!"

"Alright, alright! Sheesh, you're starting to sound like Crona." she teased, helping the boy off the floor. "But as soon as it's fixed I want her out, got it?"

Kidd nodded furiously, relieved that he had such reliable friends. "And if she gives you any trouble just let me know and I'll talk to my Father."

Maka sighed and left to fetch her partner, calling out his name angrily. When she recieved a loud 'WHAT!' in response the girl smirked at his displeasure. "Bryn is going to stay with us until Kidd gets his house fixed!"

Soul was in the room in less than a second, oh so ready to deny. But as he lifted a finger and opened his mouth to tell his meister he refused he got a good Maka-Chop to the head.

"Don't deny me," she scolded. "I'm the girl, therefore your argument is invalid."

Patti giggled at the pile of Soul that was on the floor, watching amusedly as he squirmed and groaned. After he stopped being her entertainment value she turned away and joined in with everyone else.

Tsubaki and Black Star were sitting on the couch with Liz, Maka was next to Kidd, and Bryn was poking Soul with a fork to make sure he was still alive after the brutal beating from his meister.

"So," Maka began, looking away from her near crippled weapon partner. "How long do you think it'll take for you to get the house fixed?"

Kidd ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Well, I'd like to have it done within a month, and I understand that that's quite a while, but for right now that's the best I can do."

Maka nodded and peered over to Bryn. "I think I can handle her," she said confidently. "Besides, as long as I have a book I have peace."

Bryn looked up at the comment and eyed Maka. "I was wondering why the death count in this city was so high." She smirked to herself as Maka beamed proudly.

Soul rolled over and got to his knees, rubbing his head gingerly. "Maka, she is not staying with us," he rasped, then pointed a finger in the girl's direction. "Blair is enough of a handful as it is and you know it."

Maka glared hotly at him and raised her book, marched over to him and then shoved the end of her book into his nose. "Don't test me, Evans. Besdies, maybe they can keep each other occupied."

The weapon scrunched up his face in irritation and looked away. As he pouted on the floor, Bryn continued to poke him in the ribs with her fork. "Bryn... Stop it." Soul grabbed the fork in his hand and yanked it from her grip, then tossed it across the floor into the dining room.

"Well I guess it's settled then, I'll talk to my Father and see about getting some extra help." Kidd stood up, put a hand on his head and exited the room, groaning about how much his medical bill was going to cost when he had his seventeenth pass out.

With a determined look on her face, Maka picked Soul up by his arm and shoved him in the direction of the door. "C'mon Bryn." As the three approached the door there was a loud yelp from the other end of the house. Maka sighed and turned arund with her hand on the doorknob. "BLAIR! GET YOUR FURRY ASS OVER HERE! WE'RE LEAVING!"

The cat woman appeared from around the corner and bounded down the hall, leaping into Maka's arms safely. "Maka-chan, there was a mean old dog outside that called Blair a bi-... _Hey_! Why is _she_ here with us!" Blir pawed snottily at Bryn. "I don't know what you're thinking little girly, but you aren't coming home with us."

Bryn raised a brow and poked the cat's nose. "On the contrary, I get to stay with you guys for a while month."

"_WHAT_!" Blair hissed at the Demon and clawed at her angrily. "No! I won't let you! You aren't stealing my Soul-kun away from me!"

"Pfft, not interested." Bryn held her hand up in Blair's face and bumped the door open with her hip, taking off down the walkway ahead of the others.

The walk home was quiet and smooth after Maka calmed Blair down and put her to sleep with a belly rub. Soul had a massive headache and felt no need to say anything and Bryn occupied herself with getting more layout of the city.

When the appartment came into view Maka took the lead and headed up the stairs, then stopped short in front of the door. "Soul, look away." She then reached into her bra and pulled out the house key, balanced the cat on her hip while she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

Bryn stepped inside slowly, peeking around and sniffing the air cautiously. As she crossed the the tiled floor and hit the living room she fell faceforward onto the carpet.

Soul walked over and picked his shoes up. "I see you've met the carpet." He chuckled and walked away, diappearing into his room.

With a huff, Bryn pushed herself back up and brushed her shirt off. "Well, I'm going to take a shower." She looked at Maka, who pointed in the direction of the bathroom. "Later."

Maka walked into her room and set Blair on her bed, grabbed her pajama's off the back of her chair and changed. She put her pigtails up in their buns and slipped on a jacket, then walked back out into the living room.

Soul was sitting on the couch shivering and huffing while he glared down at his feet. His hair was messed up, his longsleeved shirt was pulled over his hands, and his knees were tucked under his chin. He looked over at his meister as she entered the room and sat down next to him. "Did you _have_ to put _ice_ down my _pants_?" he asked, pulling his legs closer against him for warmth.

The girl only smiled and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch behind Soul'd head. "Don't be such a baby." She handed her weapon the blanket, who snatched it up crossly, and watched him closely.

He wrapped the large blanket over his shoulders but continued to shiver and look miserable. "I'm still cold... and this blanket isn't warm enough."

"Oh for the love of-" Maka rolled her eyes and crawled over him, then sat down in his lap and rubbed his hands together. "You're such a baby."

Soul's face flared instatnly, making him greatful that Maka was so much shorter than him. As his meister situated herself in his lap he couldn't help but feel his stomach drop.

Then Maka's face grew very perplexed and she wiggled again. "Soul, I think you still have a chunk of ice in your pants."

"WHOA! OKAY!" He shoved Maka out of his lap and stood up. "I'm just gonna go... you know, take care of that... in the... bathroom...!" He pivoted on his foot, bolted out of the living room and skidded down the hall. He stopped in front of the bathroom door and let out a huff as he opened the door. He then stepped inside and slouched against the wooden frame, cursing himself for his hormonal reactions.

Once the door was shut and Soul had washed his face off with cold water, he turned around and propped himself up against the sink, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that Bryn was still in the shower. As he slowly realized what that entailed, the water shut off and the towel that had been hanging next to the sink disappeared.

"Crap..." Soul whispered to himself, reaching for the doorknob as the girl stepped out of the shower.

In quite a few ways she reminded him of Blair. The towel was too small and graciously hugged her narrow waist, barely covered her bust to her mid thighs and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but stare and wonder at how her breasts hadn't fallen out yet.

Bryn stared at him long and hard, contemplating on weather or not to rip off as his head. But as her eyes wandered to the bulge in his red pants, she raised both her eyebrows and shot her glance back into his eyes. "That better not be because of me."

Soul raised his hands and shouted at the ceiling. "OH! FOR LOVE OF!" His face flushed an unknown shade of red and he stormed out of the bathroom. Bryn watched him leave with confused violet eyes, but the demin scythe suddenly popped his head back in. "And no, it's not because of you," Soul spat.

Bryn's head quirked to the side as the door to that bathroom closed once again. "Well it couldn't have been Blair, she's hiding out in Soul's room," Bryn mused to herself. "So that just leaves Mak-" The Demon child's eyes suddenly widened before narrowing mischieviously. "Ooooooh, I get it now." As she dired off properly, her brain whirled to life, developing an evil plan so devious, so perfect, and so guaranteed to work, that even Kidd would have been proud.

Soul stomped across the hall and yanked open his bedroom door, only to find Blair, half naked as usual, sprawled out onto his bed.

"Hey there, Scythey boy!" Her eyes traveled across his figure and, like Bryn, landed on the prominant lump between his legs. "Ooohh, Soul-Kun and Maka-"

"**NO! NO WE DID NOT! NOTHING HAPPENED!**" He fisted his hands in his hair and glared furiously at the cat woman.

Her head lowered and she pouted, her hands curled under her chin and her tail dropped to the bed. "Aww... You and Maka-chan don't do much togeth-"

Soul'd red eyes deepened harshly. "That's because we aren't together like that!"

Blair quit pouting and crossed her arms with a 'hmph'. "Well you should be." Before Soul could open his mouth to argue, the woman pounced off the bed and landed on four furry paws, the brim of her hat covering the mischevious glint in her eyes. "We'll see about that."

* * *

Author: Whoa! Lookit that! And update!

Kidd: A fashionably _late_ update...

Author: ... High School's a bitch, what can I say?

Kidd: Don't make excuses!

Bryn: *beats with frying pan* Be quiet.

Author: ... Well, you guys should review so I can put more SoMa FLUFF! Yay for SoMa fluffs! Also, I'm going to try to work on some more fanart, my deviantART name is Auzie-Angel... friend of SilverBloodAlchemist... who writes Airship Grigori... You should read that too if you haven't!

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	6. Reflexes

Blair trotted happily into the living room where Maka was sitting, still peering down the hall to see what had happened to Soul. She snapped back to reality when the small purple fur ball made herself at home on the meister's lap.

"Hi Blair. What happened to Soul?" Maka asked innocently, running her hand gently down the cat's back. Blair purred contently and curled up against Maka's stomach with her tail covering her nose. "Blair?"

The cat huffed and tilted her head up to peer into Maka's green eyes. "He's taking care of… something." Once that had been said Blair covered her nose again and fell asleep.

"MAKA!" Bryn's voice rang through the small apartment.

Blair screeched and leaped off Maka as she stood to go take care of the Demon. "What is it Bryn!"

"… Do you have something I can wear?" Bryn's head peeked out of the bathroom, her towel still wrapped tightly about her waist. "I didn't bring anything with me."

Maka sighed and pulled the girl into her room, standing her in the middle over a rug. She then looked over Bryn's body, noting her size and height. Once she had a good picture in her head she went over everything in her closet, but came up empty handed. "Sorry Bryn, I don't have anything that would fit you…"

Bryn raised a brow and fisted her hand on her hips. "Oh come on, Maka. You've got to have _something_." As the meister shook her head the Demon hung her head. "There's got to be something in this house I can wear."

"Well," Maka started, putting a finger to her lips. "You're about the same size as Blair."

"No. No no no no and no. I am _not_ wearing _anything_ that belongs to that… SLUT!" Bryn called, hoping Blair would hear her. She glared when she received a "WHORE!" in response. "TRAMP!"

"BITCH!"

"HUSSY!"

"**WHAT**!" Blair stormed into the room, her graceful figure tight with anger. "I am _NOT_ a HUSSY!"

Then Soul's voice entered the mix. "IT WAS A GOAT BLAIR!"

Her amber eyes flared dangerously and she hissed. "**SOUL EATER EVANS**! **IF YOU EVER SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN I'LL YANK OUT EVERY LAST ONE OF YOUR TEETH AND USE THEM TO-!**"

"Blair!" Maka yelled, balling her hands into fists. Once the woman shut her mouth and pouted in her direction, Maka proceeded to calmly explain. "Now I know you two don't like each other, for whatever reason, but-"

Bryn and Blair stared each other down, their noses barely touching.

"As long as Bryn is here you two have to get along!" Maka tried desperately.

"NO!" they both shouted, now growling and attempting to push each other over.

As a last resort, knowing this wasn't going anywhere fast, Maka shrugged her shoulders. "Alright, I guess I'll just have to get Justin."

Blair suddenly paled and she nearly fell over. "NO! I'm NOT listening to another one of his… PREECHES!"

Bryn stood up straight and looked at Maka curiously. "Who's Justin?"

"He's a Death Scythe who's a _serious_ Christian." Maka replied, smiling cunningly.

"Oh _GOD_."

Blair looked up at Bryn with horror etched all over her feature. "You don't even _know_." She then stood up straight and sighed irritably, Maka knowing that she'd won. "Well I suppose I might have… something you can… have." She disappeared for a moment and returned with an outfit that didn't surprise Maka in the slightest. "Here."

With a critical eye Bryn took it in her hands and shooed everyone else out, locking the door so that she'd be safe from whatever she was sure Blair had planned. After she had taken the next twenty minutes to get dressed and scrutinize herself in the mirror, she emerged.

She was wearing a black pleated mini skirt, clad with chains and patterned with splotches of red. She had kept her leather Shinigami buckled belt which was adorned with spikes hanging it loosely around her hips. Her long-sleeved shirt was black with frayed edges that looked to be stained red. It was patterned to look like the front of Kidd's jacket, but instead of having a white shirt underneath it graciously flaunted Bryn's cleavage.

"Um, why does it look like Kidd's jacket?" Maka asked, absently throwing a box of tissues at Soul's head.

Blair snickered and held a hand up to cover her mouth. "Because it's a woman's line of clothing… and he wears a woman's suite."

Maka remained silent, knowing that the Thompson sisters must have figured that one out ages ago but never said anything.

"I don't know if I should laugh at that… or feel horribly embarrassed…" Bryn said awkwardly, who looked almost ready to burst out laughing and groan inhumanly all at the same time.

Soul snickered wildly to himself, holding his sides as they began to shriek with pain. "Wow! Kidd has reached a whole new level of uncool!" As he stepped out of his room and kept one hand on the knob, just in case, Blair's eyes stared at him furiously.

"I mean it Soul, not a word." Blair flicked her tail with irritation as she strode past him and yanked open the front door. "I'm going to the market! We're out of fish!" The door then slammed shut and Soul busted out laughing again.

"I can't even believe it! Kidd wears women's clothing! Hahaha!"

Bryn turned to glare at him, hoping that literally glaring daggers was just another service Necromancy offered. "Don't make fun of him, because then you're making fun of me. And trust me, you don't want to know what happens when people make fun of me."

Maka got a look of complete nerd on her face as she turned to look at Soul. "Dun dun dun…" she whispered, making her fingers wiggle for emphasis.

"Pfft, nerd." Soul then closed his door and cranked his music up, making sure that the pot on the table outside his room was rattling, just to annoy Maka.

Bryn stared blankly at the rattling pot, then picked it up with one hand (tossing it for good measure), opened Soul's door with the other, and chucked the pot viciously inside. She then calmly shut his door and walked away, listening to Soul yell and scream about how unnecessary it had been and that something less breakable would have sufficed just fine. "AS LONG AS I BROKE SOMETHING I'M HAPPY!"

With a slight shake of her head, Maka followed after Bryn. "You know, you're just going to piss him off."

"Good, he pisses you off all the time. I think he deserves it." Bryn said, stopping to put a hand on Maka's shoulder.

"Well, yeah… but he's Soul…"

Bryn pulled Maka closer and two bladed wings shot out from behind her back. "Maka, my dear, I'm going to take you under my wing and show you my ways." She then panned her hand out in front of them as if to showcase some big idea.

Maka looked hesitantly behind her and grimaced. "Ways to what?"

"Just roll with it."

* * *

Kidd stomped around the house, throwing a hissy fit and screaming at the top of his lungs. "And THEN not only was it in ruins, IT WASN'T SYMMETRICAL!" he whined, falling to his knees in front of the mirror with his Father's face all over it.

"Well I'm sure it'll take some time getting used to, you're mother was quite destructive too when we first met." Shinigami Sama smiled behind his mask, lightly scratching the back of his cloak.

"But Father… THERE'S ONLY HALF OF THE MANSION LEFT!" Kidd wailed, pounding his fist against the floor by his head. The boy continued to act like this until Liz ran in and screamed at him to stop.

"You've been acting like this ever since they left! SHUT UP WILL YA!" She then turned around and left, going to make sure Patti hadn't started flirting with the workers… again.

Kidd sighed and stood up, brushing off his suit jacket with his head hung low. "I don't know Father, she seems alright and everything… but I don't think I could _live_ with her." The boy lifted his head up, tired eyes half lidded. It was nearly 3 am and no one had gotten any sleep.

Shinigami Sama tilted his head to one side and asked, "Well isn't she going to stay with Soul and Maka until the house is rebuilt?" When his son nodded he continued. "Well then I think that'll do her some good. Maybe she'll mellow out a little?"

Kidd looked unsure, but decided that he otherwise didn't have much of a choice, as he couldn't just kick her out, so he nodded again and waved his Father goodbye. Then he turned on his heels and headed for bed. "Liz! Patti! I'm going to bed!" he shouted, peeking his head out the front door to make sure they heard. "OKAY!"

"Yeah yeah, we heard ya, Kidd!" Patti yelled, waving him off without turning around. She was much too preoccupied with petting a certain purple cat with a wide brimmed witch hat. "You're just so cute! Yes you are!"

The cat purred happily, letting the small paper bag she had with her drop to the ground. As the comments kept coming she went belly up and pulled her paws inward, twitching her ears happily. The pumpkin bell around her neck jingled as she rolled back over, rubbing her head into Patti's hand one last time.

"Aww, you don't have to go do you?" Patti frowned and scratched behind the cat's ears unhappily.

Blair gave a soft meow and rubbed up against the girl's legs, flicking her tail for a goodbye as she left. The back that had been sitting on the concrete floated gently in the air, light purple swirls of smoke and dust keeping it up and following behind the cat.

Patti waved her hands wildly, screaming back at the cat to make sure she stopped by again soon. "AND DON'T FORGET THAT I'LL GIVE YOU ALL THE MILK YOU WANT!"

The cat meowed back, tilting her hat as she rounded a corner and continued down the street. It had gotten late and she hadn't meant to be out so long, but she had decided to take a back alley to get to the fish market and that quickly turned into a very _bad_ idea. Getting away from the freaks at first was no problem, but she only delved deeper into their little ghetto section of Death City. "And now I know why Soul tells me to go out like a cat after dark."

She padded up to the apartment building and bounded up the stairs two by two, making the bag behind her bounce around and nearly spill out all the fish. Once she hit the landing she let out a puff of smoke and flexed her arms and legs, glad to be back to what had become normal for her. She quietly opened the door and stepped inside, making sure to close the door behind her with care.

"Where've you been?"

Blair nearly jumped out of her fur, which is saying something considering she was human at the moment. "BRYN!" she whispered, fuming at the other female. "Don't scare me like that!" With a huff she put the fish away and marched into the living where Bryn was sitting.

The table had been moved to the hallway (artfully blocking Soul's door), the rug had been rolled up and set to the side, a new rug, which was half the size, took its place, a small round table covered in a beautifully decorated cloth sat in the middle and it was littered with strange objects.

"Bryn… What are you doing? ... And where did you get those pajamas!" Blair remembered Bryn saying she had nothing else to wear and there was NO WAY those were Maka's.

Bryn waved her off, flipping through a massive book written in some language Blair had never seen before. There were pictures of hands and bones and various body parts with and without flesh. Blair cringed and sat on the couch, trying to look at something else.

The demon held her right hand, which Blair noted was tilted at an odd angle as if injured, over a bowl of water, bits of crushed root floating around on the surface, and muttered an incantation. The water began to move and ripple, eventually flowing out of the bowl and wrapping around Bryn's hand in a thin coat of glowing liquid. When she stopped chanting the water disappeared, she flexed her hand and cracked her knuckles, making sure she could move it properly. "There we go! Good as new."

"Uuuhhh…." Blair continued to stare and gawk at the other girl, not sure if she should run off with Soul and Maka or run to get the frying pan. "What was that?"

Bryn rolled her eyes and put out her candles. "Oh come on, don't you practice rituals? You are a Witch aren't you?"

Blair jumped a little and looked around nervously. "Well… not exactly."

"What does that mean?" Bryn asked, waving a finger around in circles. "I can sense Magick radiating off you like you were a freakin' Grimoire."

This only made the cat woman more nervous. "Well you see… I'm not exactly a Witch… but I do have Magickal powers…" She smiled and tilted her hat, flicking a finger to have her entire outfit change. Instead of the typical black mini dress she now wore black pajamas with fishes printed in all the wrong places.

"I see… So you're one of the hybrids then. Well I guess that's better than nothing." Bryn flicked her wrist and put the room back in order, putting her things inside a small ornate box.

Blair huffed and puffed out her cheeks. "Well how come you suddenly have clothes? You had to ask for mine earlier! And now you can suddenly use Magick!"

"I didn't bring a change with me and I sprang my wrist in the woods. Therefore I had no Magick, that's what the ritual was for." She picked up the box and set it in the corner, putting a spell on it to keep others, mainly Blair, out of it.

The cat woman morphed back into her furry body and walked over to the demon. "Yeah well, I still don't trust you, girly."

"Don't call me girly, I'll have to summon a dog to chase you. And the dogs I hang out with aren't pretty." She glared back down at Blair, then rubbed her back and shooed her off. "Besides, I don't trust you either."

"Hmph." Blair flicked her tail and walked into Maka's room, lightly jumping onto her bed and curling up against her stomach. "Dumb bitch."

Bryn popped her head in the room and smiled. "I heard that."

Blair, already half asleep, just pawed at her to leave and hissed, not making any more effort than that other than the open one eye to make sure it worked.

* * *

"Well? I see you've returned empty handed, again." Her voice was dark and smooth, flowing from plush purple lips. Her black eyes fixated on the Japanese Witch kneeling below her, whose long black hair flowed over her shoulders and accentuated her position of submission.

The girl raised her head and stared back with navy eyes. "Yes, Mistress… but this time there was an… intervention."

The shadowed woman repositioned herself, resting her cheek against her hand and groaning irritably. "From who? You were in the woods on the eastern side, there's nothing over there but dessert."

"Weapons… I couldn't let them see me." She bowed her head again and curled inwards, waiting for a long winded rant from the other.

However, the other remained quiet for a moment, speaking softly after she mused over her words. "Why type of weapons?"

"A Death Scythe… and a few others. I didn't want to give myself away, so I fled and watched from afar. They took her back to the Academy." The Witch then stood up and clasped her hands behind her back. "However, I don't believe she resides there anymore."

"How do you know?" spoke the shadowed figure, leaning forward to show her face.

"Well…" the Witch started, twiddling her long, thin fingers. "I scoped the City and there's a separate house that the Reaper lives in, and there was a large explosion that came from that direction the night before last."

There was a silence, then the woman pulled her face back into the darkness. "Go back to the City, watch anyone who enters or leaves that house. If she isn't there, don't come back until you know her location."

"Hai." The Witch then swiftly fled the room, small feathers trailing behind her.

"Do not let me down, Raven."

* * *

"BREAKFAST IS READY! GET OUT HERE SOUL!" screamed the young meister, banging on her partner's bedroom door with a frying pan. "DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!"

Blair snickered. "Ooohh~! Maybe Maka-chan should anyways!"

The ashy blond girl turned to glare back at the cat woman. "Knock it off Blair and stop being a perv." She then proceeded to wail on the door, doing so until Soul could be heard falling out of his bed.

"Dammit Maka! I'm coming!" he growled, throwing a shoe at his door in response just in case she hadn't heard him. When his meister had left he pulled on a shirt and meandered into the kitchen, noticing Bryn was missing. "Hey, where's the Demon bitch?"

Maka threw the frying pan at him since all of her books were out of reach. "Don't be such an ass! You don't even know her!" She didn't bother to look and see if she had hit her target, but judging by the uncool yelp he let out she figured that in itself was good enough.

Soul set the pan back on the counter and scoffed, trying to avoid the 'be more respectful of women' speech that Maka had perfected by this point. "Where is she anyways?"

Blair poked her nose out from under Maka's arm. "Asleep over there on the floor." She then tucked her nose back under for more pets and scratches.

Soul's eyebrows shot up a little. "On the floor?" He turned around and surveyed the living room, finding her curled up at the foot of the couch next to the sliding glass door that led to the patio. She had her arms and legs pulled closely into her body with her head tucked against her chest at the floor while a long spaded tail curled up at her side.

"Stop talkin' about me." She said with a grunt, lazily pushing herself off the floor. "Didn't anyone tell it was rude?"

Soul rolled his eyes and moved over so she could sit at the table, staring at her with an unamused expression. "You aren't really the charmer either." He mumbled quietly, darting his eyes off to the side to look at Maka instead.

Bryn glared at him hard. "If you're going to insult me then do it when I'm not around, otherwise I _WILL_ hear you." She replied dangerously, her violet eyes flaring. When she had his full attention she continued. "Just because I woke up five minutes ago doesn't mean I can't hear a loudmouth mumbler like you."

Maka huffed and turned around, "Will you two shut up, I'm usually a morning person but you two are gonna end up driving me up a wall." She walked over to them and set down their plates, taking her own to the counter so she could watch them. When Soul looked at her curiously she pointed two fingers at her and then pointed them at him. After she was done chewing her eggs she mouthed, "I'm watching you _Evans_," and gave him a steady glare.

Soul rolled his eyes again and stuffed his mouth full of bacon so he didn't have to give her an excuse as to why he was being so "moody". It only took him a minute to clean his plate, which he washed thoroughly in the sink and neatly put away. "Hey Maka, I think Black Star and Tsubaki might stop by today."

Bryn nearly choked on her milk. "WHAT! You mean that blue haired _APE_ is coming over here!" When the weapon snickered and nodded his head she let her head fall to the table, nearly smashing into her biscuits and gravy. She then let out a very unhappy whine, which morphed into an unattractive groan. "How can you even be _friends_ with that buffoon?"

"Tch, at least he's cooler than you." Soul replied, almost instantly wishing he had stayed away from that one. The Demon shot him a glare so hard he wasn't sure if she was using her Magick or not, but he could _feel_ it. Sharp, pointy daggers slowly burning into his eyes.

At exactly that moment a loud rapping noise came from the door.

_OH GOD, NO!_ Bryn buried her head in her arms, silently sending her plate to clean itself. She heard Soul walk over to the door, and she knew he was being slow just to annoy her, putting a hand on the knob and turning it with care. However, he didn't get the chance to pull it open before he was nearly knocked backwards as it flew open.

"THE GREAT BLACK STAR IS HERE! LET THE PARTY BEGIN!" he boasted, marching in with pride. Tsubaki smiled sweetly at Soul, almost as if to apologize for her partner's behavior. "Oh come on, I thought you made that thing live outside."

Bryn whipped herself around and snarled violently. "YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGAIN TO MY FACE! GO AHEAD, I _**DARE**_YOU!" she hissed, wanting him so badly to repeat what he had said just so she could be rid of him.

Soul waved his hand at her to calm down. "Alright Black Star, that's enough. I doubt she'd feel bad if your death looked like an accident."

The Ninja scoffed, putting his fists into his hips. "Oh please, she's just a little girl, I got more trouble from Angela."

"A little girl? REALLY!" Bryn shouted, waving her arms while fire seemed to flare in her eyes.

Her tail flicked behind her every time he blinked, letting him know she was watching him closely.

"Well, the girl aside, I checked down at the court, it's empty!" Black Star beamed happily, almost as if it was his doing that the court was empty when he walked by.

Soul grinned and bumped his fist. "Cool, I'll get the ball and we'll go!" He then left and darted into his room, grabbed the ball from a shelf and met the two outside the apartment door. "Is it alright if the girls watch? I doubt they'll stay inside and maybe we can show Maka something new."

Black Star rolled his eyes. "Fine, but no comments from the freak."

* * *

Blue eyes twitched with malice as the Demon sitting on the bench yelled at him, continued yelling, and then yelled some more. She wouldn't stop yelling. And it would literally drown out the rest of the sounds of the park. Finally, he lost his temper. "_**ALRIGHT ALREADY! I GET IT FREAK!**_"

Bryn smirked and folded her arms across her chest, noticing Maka's slight glare thrown at Black Star. "No reason to be rude, I was just trying to help."

"HELP!" Black Star squealed, his face boiling red. "YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT BASKETBALL!" He growled, jabbing his finger at her as if to poke a hole right through her soul.

The Demon raised a brow, letting one arm fall limp and the other reset on her hip as she stood. "You wanna run that by me again?"

Black Star stood up straight and closed the distance between them, looking down on her with a frown. "You. Don't know. A DAMN THING. About Basketball."

"I don't? Okay then, since I'm so bad at it, then why don't you teach me something?" She rose up on her toes, meeting his eyes easily. "Just you and me, one on one."

The ego, which was Black Star's most prominent feature, flared inside of the Ninja Assassin, bringing a sinister smile to his lips. "You're on, freak."

Bryn smiled back, easily catching the ball that Soul threw at her, leaning in closer. "I hope you can deal with your ego getting beat to Hell."

"We'll see about that." Black Star replied, backing up to the middle of the court. He turned to Soul, crossing his arms with pride. "The freak wants a one on one match with God, says that maybe I could teach her something."

Soul snickered and sat down on the bench next to Maka and Tsubaki. "Don't hurt her feelings!" he called back, laughing whole heartedly afterwards. He then sat back with his arms stretched out across the back of the bench, his left hand nearly resting on Maka's shoulder.

"Alright freak, all you gotta do is get that ball through the hoop behind me. No Magick, no tricks, and no mercy, got it?" Black Star said, hunkering down into position, ready for any move she could throw at him.

Bryn looked at the hoop thoughtfully, bouncing the ball once against the concrete to get a feel for it. "I think I can do that."

Black Star grinned. "Just don't forget who you're up against, I'm a Ninja Assassin, you won't get by me that easily." After he shut up Bryn darted down the court towards him, dribbling the ball with intense speed. His eyes widened as she got closer, holding his arms out so she wouldn't ram into him. Once she got close she took a half step to his right, making him step in front of her to grab the ball, but as soon as he reached his hand out to swipe it she flung herself to the other side of him and easily passed him by, landing a beautiful shot, perfectly in the middle of the hoop.

Everyone on the bench had their mouths and eyes wide open, gawking at the Demon who was only half the size as her opponent.

"HEY! I said no Magick!" Black Star yelled, convinced that she had cheated.

Bryn popped her hip to one side and replied, "I didn't you big ape!" She threw the ball at his face, but getting disappointed as his reflexes came through.

"There's no way you can be that fast! You had to have cheated!" the boy continued, shaking his fist in the air violently.

The girl huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "I've been playing basketball with boys since I was five, I have reflexes." She smirked inwardly as Black Star momentarily twitched. "So yeah, I do know a damn thing about basketball."

Soul opened his mouth to yell back, but got a quick slap to the mouth by his partner.

"Don't, I'm enjoying this too much. He's finally getting his ego handed to him for once." Maka growled quietly, shooting her partner a warning glance.

Black Star ignored Maka's comment and stared Bryn down. "Okay fine, let's see just how fast you really are." He smiled again, motioning for the others to get up. "We'll do one lap around the City."

Bryn raised a brow at him, thinking that he was joking. "Around the City? I don't know my way around, that would be an unfair advent-"

"No… I mean around the WHOLE City… at the bottom." He sneered at her, watching her as she flicked her spaded tail behind her timidly.

She mulled it over and gave it serious consideration. She knew his type, she'd seen them everywhere and they were so typical. But she'd also heard of his clan, and knew exactly what he could do, but was smart enough to know that his ego usually got in the way. She wouldn't need to use Magick, because he obviously didn't know what all entailed with being a Demon. "You're on."

* * *

Author: Okay, BEFORE I get shot in the face, I'm sorry this took so long. Honestly, I didn't get any motivation until my best friend said that she wouldn't love me again until this was posted. So yeah, I'd love reviews... comments... anything... please...

Bryn: Someone sounds jealous.

Author: Shut up... I am not jealous... I'm just...

Bryn: Jealous?

Author: NO!... SilverBloodAlchemist is my best friend... I'm not jealous... that would be wrong...

Bryn: Oh yeah, because she's got more watchers than you, more reviews than you with a less amount of writing, an actual fan base for Airship Grigori (Which I best appear in or Imma choke someone!) AND she's got famous people on deviantART doing gift art gor her... Oh yeah, nothing to be jealous about.

Author: ... IM SUCH A FAILURE IN THE FICTION COMMUNITY!

Bryn: It's okay, maybe if you ask really nice she'll give you some of her awesomeness... But hey, at least your her beta... (i guess thats good for SOEMTHING...)

Author: ... Why did I make you such a bitch?


	7. Ersatz

Black Star drew a line in the sand at the base of the City, right in front of the iron archway. "There, this'll be the starting line, whoever runs one lap around the City and crosses this line first wins." He fisted his hands on his hips and looked down at the line proudly, then turned to smirk at the Demon beside him.

"Have you ever had anyone beat you at anything?" she asked, quirking a brow at him.

He almost looked offended that she would even ask such a question to a God like him. "Of course not, right Tsubaki?" He looked back at partner, smiling widely as she gave him a nervous grin. The boy then looked back at his opponent. "See? And I'm not about to start today."

Bryn scoffed and hunkered down into a ready position. "There's a first time for everything."

As Maka rolled her eyes she stepped up to the line and faced the two. "Alright, on your mark,"

Black Star put his hands on the ground and looked ahead.

"Get set,"

Bryn mimicked him and grinned evilly.

"Go!"

They took off, leaving a cloud of dust swirling around Maka. The meister coughed and waved her hand in front of her face, feeling Soul walk up to stand next to her. "I'll be surprised if they both make it back."

Soul laughed and rested an elbow on Maka's shoulder. "I'll be surprised if he actually wins."

* * *

Black Star and Bryn were side by side for quite a ways, and even though Bryn looked up at the City to see where they were, noting various shops, cafes, stores, and housing sections, she never fell behind. Black Star had started to feel agitated; she was keeping up way too easily.

"You gettin' tired yet!" he called, leaping over a fallen pine tree as if it were a tumbleweed.

Bryn jumped just as gracefully over the tree, regaining her balance quicker than her opponent. She was now about a yard in front of him, making sure he noticed by waving back at him. "Nope!"

Black Star growled and pushed the sand up faster, slowly catching up to the girl. "HA!" he shouted as they were side by side again. "See? You can't beat me!"

The girl smirked smugly and leaned over another inch, which propelled her faster across the desert. "We'll see about that!"

The Ninja called out to her and did the same, "Hey! Come back here!"

Bryn cackled back at him and let him catch up so she could better talk to him. "I'm not even trying yet! I'm just humoring you right now!"

Black Star glared and glanced ahead of him, seeing the finish line. "Oh yeah? Well neither am I!" He launched himself forward, easily passing her up by quite a few feet. "Hahaha!" The line was only a few hundred yards in front of them and he could taste his victory. But when he saw a blur pass him up on his right he could no longer taste victory, but sour, bitter defeat.

Bryn easily slid to a stop, gracefully passing across the line that the Assassin had drawn. She stood up straight as said Ninja finally caught up. "So, how's that ego of yours?"

"YOU CHEATED!" He yelled, pointing a sausage like finger in the girl's direction. "Admit you cheated!"

"No," Bryn replied, putting her hands on her hips. "I didn't cheat."

Tsubaki put a hand on her meister's shoulder as he continued to rant. "That's impossible! No one can run faster than me! I surpassed God!"

Maka then decided to intervene to shut her friend up. "She didn't use Magick, Black Star, I would have sensed it."

Black Star scowled and crossed his arms over his chest, looking away from everyone else. "Yeah well, I still think she cheated."

"You can think whatever the hell you want, but truthfully, I didn't _need_ to cheat in order to beat you." Bryn said, patting his shoulder in a fake apathetic gesture.

Soul looked up at the sun, which had been glaring at the clouds that had covered the lower half of its face for the past two hours. "Hey Maka, what time is it?"

The meister looked over at her partner and cocked her head to one side. "It's almost ten, why?"

"Well I thought that most of us had had enough off time, and I don't really like going to school, but maybe we could go see Lord Death and see what's up." Soul tried to hide the fact that he actually missed the Academy by acting as though he couldn't care less, but the nagging feeling of Maka's soul wavelength told him she wasn't buying it.

Maka's face lit up and she clasped her hands together. "I think that would be a great idea, Soul."

* * *

Lord Death looked up at his visitors, clapping his hands together happily. "Well hello there! I didn't think you'd come until later!"

Professor Stein looked up from his cup of tea, not expecting to see the Demon tag along with the Academy's best students. When she gave him a smirk he smiled back, holding up the finger she had bitten the previous day.

"Well Soul suggested we come see you now, I think he's anxious to get back to school." She smiled sweetly and smacked a book across Soul's face as he opened his mouth to speak. "We've had a lot of time off and I think we should get back to school soon."'

"MAKAAA!" A large black and red blur flew out of an unknown corner of the room, which was incredible in itself since the room was round, and hurled towards the meister. However, it stopped abruptly with a very vicious chop to the head. "Maka…" it groaned, sliding to the floor.

Maka huffed and stepped away from her father, putting the book back in her coat. "Hi Papa." She replied dully, scowling in some random direction.

Shinigami-Sama smiled nervously and clapped his hands together again to get everyone's attention. "How about we all sit down and have some tea!"

The small group sat down on the newly summoned pillows, holding out their tea cups for Lord Death to fill. Soul and Maka took a simultaneous sip, Maka smiling and Soul keeping a bland face, as if that's how he thought the tea tasted, bland. Bryn lifted a finger and flicked it upward, making two lumps of sugar float effortlessly into her cup. Then she dropped her spoon in and swirled her finger in circles to stir.

"So, Bryn, why aren't you with Kidd?" Stein asked, looking up slightly from his cup.

The Demon smirked and continued to rotate her finger. "I blew a hole in the side of the Mansion because blondie was pissing me off."

Shinigami-Sama let out a huff. "Well I suppose that's understandable. Patti can be a little…"

Soul, Maka, and Bryn all offered suggestions.

"Bitchy?"

"Annoying?"

"Hormonal?" they asked respectively. Stein smiled behind his cup, as he would've offered 'deliciously dissectible' but decided that no one, except Bryn maybe, would approve of such a statement.

"Anyways," Lord Death said, feeling slightly guilty as he knew all of those were true. "She can be a little difficult, so that I can understand."

Stein set his cup down and looked at Bryn. "So what prompted you to blow half the Mansion out of existence?"

Soul snickered at the meister's wording, remembering that Bryn had literally done exactly that. They never could find any sort of rubble or indication that there had even been a second half of the Mansion, like that hole was left there when it was initially built. She was _very_ thorough.

The girl in question took a light sip of her tea before answering him. "She kept saying that I was all talk and no bite."

"Ah," Stein took another sip of his tea, slightly nodding his head. "That sounds like her."

Shinigami-Sama audibly set his cup back on its saucer, getting the attention of all his guests. "Well since everyone has had an adequate amount of time off, I think the starting of next week would be reasonable, hm?"

Maka nodded vigorously, "I think that would be perfect! That'll give us three days to let everyone else know and make sure we've got everything back in tune!"

The scythe shook his head his partner, absolutely convinced that only she would be _THAT_ excited to start school again. "You have fun with that, Maka."

Said meister immediately dented the top of his head with her book, glaring hotly in his direction. "You're the one who suggested we come and see Lord Death."

Soul whined and rubbed his head. "Yeah, and now I wish I would have taken up Black Star's offer to go back to the court."

Shinigami-Sama smiled happily. "I'm so glad I get to see all of my students again! It's been so quiet without anyone here." He then looked down a little, feeling the loneliness of the empty halls.

"Well," Maka looked up at him eagerly. "Don't worry, we'll all be back on Monday!"

Bryn, who had long finished her tea, didn't like where this was going. "Does that mean I have to go too?"

"Well of course!" Lord Death held up his hands with both pointer fingers touching his thumbs. "I think it would be a great experience for everyone!"

The Demon huffed. "Knew it, should've kept my mouth shut."

Maka stood up with her partner, smiling at the headmaster. "I guess we'll see you soon!"

The group waved by to each other, Soul, Maka, and Bryn walking towards the hall to leave. Stein just held up a hand, slightly wiggling his injured finger, in a polite gesture while Lord Death waved both hands with enthusiasm.

* * *

"Patti, stop eating all of the sandwiches, those are for the workers." Liz took the plate out of her sister's hands and walked off, calling out to her that if she was hungry she could make her own food.

Patti scowled and ate what was still left of the sandwich she had started. "But these ones are already made! I don't feel like making my own!" After realizing her sister hadn't heard her she stood from the couch with a huff. "Fine, I'll go ask Kidd to make me one instead."

She found her meister standing outside among the large group of workmen, yelling with his arms flailing as if to convey his rant more effectively.

"YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE IT'S THE SAME ON BOTH SIDES! EVERYTHING _MUST_ BE SYMMETRICAL!" He called, tempting one of the bigger men to throw a nearby brick at his face. "DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE MYSELF!"

That was all the man was going to hear of it. "FINE! THEN GET UP HERE AND DO IT!"

Kidd was not one to be mocked and, like the shadow he was, instantly appeared on the ladder next to the man he had been yelling at. "Okay."

The man looked over and fell off his own ladder, nearly having both a heart attack and a seizure at the same time on the way down. He landed in the bush below with a loud crunching noise and string of cuss words.

Kidd looked at the cone that the worker had been trying to place for the past five minutes. Kidd reached up and pushed it back and to the left slightly, then leaned back to survey the adjacent cones, satisfied that were all aligned. "There, perfect."

"KIDDO-KUN~!"

Kidd turned around to find Patti standing at the foot of his ladder, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Yes Patti, what is it!" he shouted back, hoping that she got his point to stop yelling so loud… she didn't.

"I'M HUNGRY! WILL YOU MAKE ME LUNCH?" she called back, stepping back as her meister flitted off the ladder. "Liz wouldn't let me eat any of the sandwiches on that big round pretty plate in the kitchen. So will you make lunch instead?"

"Patti," Kidd started, putting his hands on his fists. "you're old enough to make your own lunch, I've got to stay out here and make sure everything goes according to-!"

Patti latched herself around his waist and wailed into his jacket. "PLEASE! I'm hungry! And sissy won't do it for me! Please Kiddo-kun?"

Kidd sighed and pulled the girl off of him. "Alright, fine. After that you'll have to occupy yourself, okay?"

"OKIE DOKIE!" she chirped happily, following him inside the house, sitting in one of the chairs in the private kitchen. After that she just proceeded to look at him with a large, childish smile.

The meister looked at her and crossed his arms. "Well, what do you-?"

"I want a fruit salad! With nuts and fresh vinaigrette!" She sang.

"Patti, why would you put vinaigrette on a fruit salad? I thought I told you-" Kidd asked, who had hoped he had broken her of this habit.

"VINAIGRETTE!" Patti shouted, banging her hands on the bar.

The Shinigami sighed and went to work; having to rummage around in the chef's kitchen for half of the things she had requested fruit wise. Once he had everything he needed he reentered the private kitchen and set everything out on the counter top.

Patti, who was sitting directly behind him, watched him diligently as he diced the fruit and chopped her lettuce. She had to admit, this _was_ one of her more healthy dishes, and she had been craving fruit with vinaigrette for a while, no matter how much Kidd disliked it.

After a good half hour Patti was graced with a beautifully prepared bowl of fruit salad, topped with pecans, almonds, and her odd choice of dressing. "Thank you Kiddo-kun~!" She smiled up at him cutely and proceeded to devour her lunch.

"Now, can you handle yourself for the rest of the afternoon?" Kidd asked sternly.

Patti only nodded vigorously and waved him off, wanting nothing to do with him or anyone else as she worked away at her salad.

* * *

Raven kneeled before the Witch, bowing her head low. "I have returned."

The Witch was shrouded in blackness, and intended to keep to her shadows as she spoke. "I see you have, what did you find?"

The younger Witch then stood at full height and smirked proudly. "She doesn't take up residence with her Reaper, she hangs around with the DWMA's top students; Maka Albarn and Soul Evans."

"Hmm, how much of a threat are they?" the other asked coolly, her purple lips barely moving.

"Well, they were the ones who ultimately defeated Asura." She heard a quiet growl from her leader. "But it took the help of the Ninja Assassin and his Enchanted sword plus the Reaper and all three of his partners." She finished quickly.

The Head Witch looked up and peered at the other. "The Academy is still on somewhat of a vacation period, so for now I won't worry. Keep your eyes on them, tell me if anything new comes up."

"Hai."

"Also," the other raised her hand sent over a small rolled up piece of parchment. "You're invited to the Witch Mass Ceremony tonight."

* * *

The large stone room was covered in hooded figured of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Their faces were hidden by the blackness of the shadows as the few lamps in the room provided little light. On the raised platform sat the Head Witch, her dark cloak falling in folds at her feet while her arms were folded behind her back. When the large wooden doors were closed she lifted her head lifted her hood.

The room felt deathly silent as the eyes of every witch fell upon the figure on the platform, everyone coming the realization that that was _NOT_ Head Witch Mabaa.

"Hello my fellow Witches. You're probably wondering where dear Mabaa is at this hour, and I'm sorry to say that she has recently fallen deceased." The women kept her eyes on the whispering figures below her. "I am now the new Head Witch, and we've got a problem."

Eruka, who was pressed up against a pillar with the Mizune sisters huddled at her feet, listened carefully at the new leader spoke the issue, already having a terrible feeling deep in her gut.

"The newest Demon has finally found the son of Lord Death." She waited for the new wave if whispers to die down before continuing. "Now that the famous DWMA has a pair guarding its walls it will take more than just a few to be rid of it. If anyone gains any information on this new development you will report this directly to me, not to _anyone_ else."

The group of Witches looked at each other and once again began to whisper, ultimately wondering the point of destroying the Academy and Lord Death.

The Head Witch shifted her stance to silence the room. "I understand to most of you it would seem foolish to destroy Lord Death and his son, as without them, and the Demons, the entire planet would plummet to Hell. But what few know is that if you have enough Witches banded together for the same purpose, Lord Death will not be needed to keep the world in balance."

Eruka gasped and sucked in her breath, clamping her hands over her mouth.

"What keeps this world in balance," the Witch continued. "is his soul. As long as there is a Grim Reaper and a Demon with their souls intertwined the world is in perfect balance. But if not, the world is vulnerable and Evil knows no bounds. All we would have to do is create an artificial soul and anchor it into the life force of the planet. If we could do that not only would we be free of the Shinigami Lords, but we would also be in control."

Silence followed. Not a soul in the room spoke a word. None of the Witches in the room had an opinion either way, and were confused as to what was expected of them now that Mabaa was gone.

The Head Witch took two steps forward and looked everyone in the eye. "I will not force you to make the decision right away; you have until the next Mass Ceremony. However, if you choose to go against my proposition you will meet the same fate as your beloved Mabaa." She looked for the fear in everyone's eyes, pleased that most of them were terrified. "Good. Now, does anyone have anything to offer me before we depart tonight?" she asked, pulling the hood over her head.

A small teenage girl slithered through to the front of the crowd, looking dangerously up at the new Head Witch. "I personally know the Demon, and can give you all the information you need," she said proudly, keeping her voice low but audible.

The Head Witch smiled under her hood, her purple lips pulling over blood stained teeth. "Excellent."

* * *

The weekend came and went without anyone being able to grab it long enough to really do anything fun. Soul, Maka, Black Star, and Tsubaki had dedicated the last two days to training and getting their skills back in tune. Kidd and the sisters put a few hours into training, but the rest of the time was devoted to the Mansion.

And before Bryn knew it, she was walking up the stairs to the Academy bright and early Monday morning. She trailed behind Soul and Maka, wearing her usual jeans and purple cut off cami, her boots and belt adorned with white Shinigami skulls. Tucked under her arm was a large, thick leather book with silver corner guards and red gems decorating the cover. The word 'Necronomicon' was indented into the thick leather cover and was filled with liquid onyx, making the letters appear smooth and silky. She ignored the looks of the students as she toted her book around; it had quite a reputation, more so than her.

Black Star and Tsubaki waited at the top of the steps with the rest of the students. "Maka-chan!" Tsubaki greeted happily, hugging her friend tightly.

"Hey Soul!" Black Star bumped his fists with Soul and peered over his friend's shoulder. "What's the freak doing here? Are you babysitting her or something?"

Soul smirked and glanced over to Bryn. "Nah, Lord Death said that she should come to school with us so she could be around other students."

"Well that sucks, she's gonna be in the same class as us!" Black Star glared at the Demon, who glared back just as hatefully.

The bell rang and the students began filing in the building, walking to their respectful classrooms before the final bell. Bryn tagged along behind Maka and entered the room, smirking when she saw the teacher was Professor Stein.

He looked over at Bryn and smiled, waving her over. "We've got to stop meeting like this," he joked, folding his arms across the back of his chair. "So you'll be joining us for class today?"

"Actually, I think this is going to end up being a regular thing." Bryn replied, smiling back dully.

"Well then, if that's the case then you can sit between Maka and Black Star." Stein smiled and waved her off to start class, not letting her protest against her seating arrangement.

Bryn huffed and took her seat, politely letting Maka know what Stein had said while violently shoving the boy aside. "I sit here now, don't bother me." She reinforced her warning by loudly slamming her book against the desk, also silencing the room for Stein to begin.

"Good morning class!" he said, taking up a clipboard and a pen to take role. He began calling out the names of students, happy when at least half the class showed up. After Bryn had caught on that he called students my meister and weapon pairs she grew a little concerned when the Thompson sister showed up but her Reaper was nowhere to be seen.

"Uh, where's Kidd?" she whispered to Maka, pointing over to his empty seat.

Maka smiled lightly, figuring that Bryn hadn't realized the extent of Kidd's excessive OCD. "He comes at eight instead of seven."

Bryn quirked a brow at the meister. "Why?"

"Because the number seven isn't a symmetrical number and eight is." She watched with amusement as Bryn scowled to herself, not entirely understanding.

"I see…" Bryn replied, turning her attention back to Professor Stein.

The scientist removed his cigarette and put his full attention towards his class. "While we wait for Kidd to arrive I'd like to take the time to introduce the Academy's newest student that you've been hearing rumors about."

Bryn immediately shrunk in her seat, cussing internally at her teacher.

Stein waited for the kids to quit whispering. "Bryn, please come to the front of the class."

She cringed and mentally stabbed herself while she stood and made her way to Stein's side. "I hate you." She whispered, shoving her hands into her pockets and scowling at an empty wall.

The professor smirked and addressed his class once more. "Students, this is Bryn, everyone say hello."

The class giggled and echoed a greeting to the girl, snickers and laughs trailing behind at her embarrassment. Ox went so far as to give her an extended welcome through his fit of giggles. "Yeah, you should fit right in, as long as you're as smart as you are pretty!"

Bryn's eyes flared as she threw mental daggers at his face. "Prick," she whispered to herself, turning her gaze away from him when he stopped giggling.

One of the boys in the back of the class piped up and called down to her, "Hey, if you're a weapon I'd gladly take you as a partner, if you know what I mean!"

Maka hurled a spare book and clocked him in the face. "She's taken, idiot!"

"Thanks Maka!" Bryn said, smiling at her friend's violent tendencies.

Ox looked up and folded his arms. "Oh really? Taken by who, might I ask?" he asked smartly, raising a brow disbelievingly.

"The son of Lord Death himself." She answered.

"So he's got himself a third weapon? Tch, what a pimp."

Patti nearly launched herself out of her seat to viciously tackle her meister's insulter, snarling like an animal as Liz held her back.

Ox would have continued if the boy in question hadn't had walked in in that moment. "Excuse me Ox, but I believe my personal life is my business. And for your information she is _not_ my weapon, but I highly suggest you stay off her bad side." With that Kidd took his seat next to Patti and glared at Ox from there.

Said meister turned to around and looked up Kidd. "Well then what is she? Your personal-?"

"I WILL END YOU. SHUT YOUR FACE." Bryn glared darkly at Ox and held up a finger, a small black spark flying from her finger tip and into Ox's body, causing him to slightly spasm.

Stein took this opportunity to explain the situation. "There is no need to be alarmed, Bryn is not a Witch," He could see the class visibly relax. "She's a Demon." He smiled broadly, as if he figured the students knew the difference.

"KISHIN! ATTACK!" One of the students held up their weapon partner ready to attack, but Stein held up his hand and ordered the two to sit back down.

"She's not a Kishin, that's a very different kind of Demon altogether." He sighed and lowered his head for a moment. "Does anyone remember what we were talking about before the Asura incident?"

Tsubaki added her cheerful voice to the mix. "We were talking about the balance of the Earth!"

"Exactly, thank you Tsubaki. Can anyone tell me, besides Maka, what is needed for the Earth to stay in balance?" Stein asked, actually sort of surprised the even Ox raised his hand.

"The God of Death."

Stein smirked. "And?"

Ox went blank. "What do you mean 'and'? And what?"

Maka smiled proudly and leaned over her desk towards the other meister. "A Death God and a Demon!"

"Very good Maka. Now since you are clearly the only one in the class who knows the difference between the two 'Demons' why don't you illustrate for us." Stein sat back in his chair and motioned for Bryn to step up closer.

Maka beamed proudly at Ox as he glared at her and mouthed 'book whore'. "Kishin eggs are referred to as "demons" because of their evil nature, and that is the name that the humans have given them But in fact, when looking at an index of inhuman creatures, kishins will be listed as such, and Demons are an entirely different being."

Ox scoffed and crossed his arms. "How come Lord Death has never mentioned them to us, then?"

"For the same reason he didn't tell me." Kidd said hotly, getting quite fed up with the meister's attitude.

"Well," Ox continued, "what's so special about these 'Demons' anyways?"

Bryn decided that the boy would enjoy a live demonstration rather than a decoratively illustrated picture or detailed explanation. The blades of her wings flared behind her and her tail flicked with irritation as it grew out of her spine. She held out her hand pushed her soul's wavelength into Kidd's, making his eyes glow a bright cyan blue. As she mentally connected the white stripes on his head she was careful not to force any Magick on him, this would be enough to at least scare the hell out of the uptight prissy meister. Once she was satisfied that Ox was afraid of her she let go of Kidd's soul and put her fists on her hips. "Is that special enough for ya?"

Kidd blinked a few time but felt no lasting nausea, which he was exceedingly grateful for.

Ox shut his mouth and looked down, not having any plans on instigating any more arguments or freakish demonstrations.

Stein looked sneakily at Bryn and whispered. "What I wouldn't give to dissect you."

* * *

Author: I think this is late... I know I've been late for my IZ fic... but this was fun to write!

Bryn: I think I don't like this place.

Author: It's only your first day...

Bryn: I WILL END HIM.

Author: ... I don't doubt that. Next to be updated either Modified chapters or VfL, whichever gets done first.


	8. Artificially Imbalanced

Class had ended and the group had an hour of free time before their physical training lesson began. Bryn had decided that walking around the Academy was a good idea, as she had figured out that getting lost was no hard task. However, she only cut off about fifteen minutes of the hour and was back at the courtyard before anyone even really realized she had gone.

She saw Soul and Maka sitting on the boundary wall, looking off into the woods. Black Star and Tsubaki were working a little more with what was mentioned to be the Enchanted Sword mode. Liz was occupying her younger sister Patti and Kidd was sitting under a tree with his reading glasses on and his nose shoved into a book. And then there was an extra person who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Bryn kept her distance so not to be seen and watched the child walk up to Maka. By the looks it was a she, but by the wavelength of its soul she knew it was a boy. And why did that outfit seem familiar?

The boy approached Maka with one hand gripping the opposite arm; his head hung low and his hair, which was bleached out by the sun, swayed in the light breeze. Once he had Maka's attention the meister slid off the wall and pulled the boy, who was slightly taller than her, into a warm hug. After that they talked for a moment before the boy turned to leave, and walked in Bryn's direction.

At first she was quite annoyed that she hadn't recognized him the first time she looked at that outfit, but then she was so overwhelmed with joy she forgot why she was mad. "Crona!" she called, running after the boy in front of her, enveloping him in her arms upon contact and picking him up off the ground with a whirl.

Crona, at first, was utterly terrified at the contact of this person he didn't immediately recognize, but once he was set back down on the ground he peered up at her face. "Bryn?" he asked softly, clutching to the back of her shirt to hold himself up. When she smiled back he was just as happy. "Bryn!" he buried his face in her neck and nuzzled her skin, feeling her soul wrap protectively around his own.

"I thought I'd never see you again," She said quietly, inhaling the sweet smell of his odd pink hair as he hugged her tighter.

"I missed you," he whispered back, nearly on the verge of tears.

Bryn pulled away to look at his face, which was just as sweet and innocent as the day she last saw it. "You look a lot better… your face is brighter."

Crona blushed and slightly hid his face, holding his friend by the arms. "Maka helped me deal with things." Even though he knew she couldn't see, he smiled for her.

Said meister walked up and looked oddly at the two, but smiled all the same. Crona never talked about anyone, but when she read his poems she could tell there was an underlying figure he spoke of constantly.

Bryn looked up at Maka, a small smile on her lips. "Thank you… I'm glad you were there for him."

Maka smiled brighter and clasped her hands together. "It took me a while, but I think he's finally warming up to the outside world!"

Crona smiled as bright as he could, pulling Maka in to join the hug. The meister wrapped her arms around the two and smiled happily, but that smile soon fell when she heard Patti scream; "GROUP HUG!"

Patti shoved Liz between Maka and Crona, took Soul by the collar and put him between Maka and Bryn, then lifted Kidd from the ground and situated him between Bryn and Crona. Patti then found herself a spot among the hoard of children and joined in eagerly, loving the togetherness of everyone. However, her joy was short lived as large blob materialized out of Crona's back and began pulling on his hair.

Liz screeched and launched herself away from the group with as much force as possible. "EW EW EW!"

Maka yanked out her book and smacked the blob viciously with said weapon. "Ragnarok, go away!"

"Ouch! Dammit woman!" it screeched, waving its fists wildly at the meister.

Everyone backed away and groaned, already having gotten used to the strange blood being popping out of Crona's back at the least convenient times. Bryn, however, hadn't seen Crona in so long she had nearly forgotten that Ragnarok even existed. With a huff the Demon twisted her body and sliced her leg through the air, cutting Ragnarok across the face with her heel. "Go away you little freak!"

"JESUS! What the hell is your problem, lady!" he screeched back, rubbing the sore spot on his head. He then turned to look at his attacker, then huffed. "Oh, it's just you."

"Yeah, now go the hell away." Bryn spat, making a shooing motion with her hand. After the blood tumor rolled his eyes he disappeared, but not without giving Crona a good smack on the back of the head.

Liz finally relaxed and stared at Crona. "Is that things still a part of you?"

Crona just looked back up and gave her a small smile in return. "Ragnarok is part of my body, I don't think I can make him go away."

The Thompson sister didn't relax her face, glancing over at the rest of the group. "What does that mean?"

"It's complicated, why don't we head over to the practice ring for physicals?" Maka suggested, grabbing Soul by the arm and leading the way. Bryn and Tsubaki were really the only people who followed, everyone else pretty much lagged behind and stopped every once in a while, not really wanting to participate in the grueling class that was their physical training course.

When they arrived there was a small handful of people occupying the benches, eagerly watching the mock duel in the ring. Ox and Harvar were in the ring with a lower class pair, teaching them basic maneuvers. Ox took pride in his knowledge and tactics, almost trying to force them onto others when Maka wasn't around to show him up.

"Oh great, hot head is in the ring." Soul said irritably, shoving his hands in his pockets forcefully.

Maka just huffed and took a seat on one of the empty benches, followed by the other three. She didn't particularly like showing people up, no matter how good she knew she was, but as soon as Ox caught sight of her she knew that he'd pipe up and boast about some new technique that would surely bring her down.

And sure enough; "Hey, Maka!" he called, twirling Harvar with one hand at his side. "Why don't you let me have another shot at you, huh?"

"No thanks, Ox," she replied back, lowering her head and glowering at him.

Bryn glanced at Maka, then grinned. "She might not want to, but how about you let me in there?" the Demon shouted, standing up as the rest of the group trudged over to sit down.

At first Ox almost declined her offer, before his ego kicked in and he couldn't help but accept such an offer. "Why not? But I won't go easy on you!"

Bryn smirked and stepped into the ring, placing her hands into her pockets. "If you did I might accidentally kill you."

Ox's face fell for a split second before he replaced it with a giddy smile. "Alright then, I'll go first?"

"Why don't you," she replied, popping her out. "I'm not getting any younger."

The meister didn't hesitate to charge at the Demon, taking long strides and even breaths. As he reached Bryn and brought around Harvar, he swung hard and could feel something connect, thinking at first he really got her the first time. But when he looked up he knew it couldn't have been that easy, however, she wasn't even there. "Huh?"

"Over here stupid."

Ox spun around and gawked. She was on the opposite end of the ring. Perfectly fine. "How?"

"I'm a Demon, what did you expect?" Bryn taunted, walking up to stand in front of him. "I don't need Kidd to fight."

"But… Hold on, if…" He stopped, she was gone again, right in front of him. "Hey!"

"Yes?"

The meister spun around again, then angrily pounded Harvar against the ground. "How do you do that!"

"You really want me to school you right now?" Bryn smirked and walked around him, eyeing the long shadow of the tree about ten yards in front of her. "Like Witches have their themed powers and such, so do Demons." She sunk to the ground and her body vanished within the tree's shadow. Ox looked around, spotting her up in one of its branches hanging upside down.

Maka tilted her head to the side thoughtfully, then called to Bryn from across the field. "So like Medusa was all snakes and arrows, and the Misune sisters was little mice, you have a theme too. So then Demons are essentially in the same Magickal category as Witches, only you're more powerful because you feed off the power from Kidd, right?"

"Very good, Maka," Lord Death sauntered over to the meister and clapped. "You've almost got it."

Bryn dropped to the ground and left the ring, flicking her finger at Ox as he protested, sending him into another fit of spasms. Then she joined Lord Death and looked at Maka with an air of impression. "Demons and Witches aren't really in the same Magickal category. You know that book that I have? That belonged to the first Demon, and it was stolen by the first Witch, who taught its secrets to others. When the Demon found out she cursed the Witch, turning her into a sort of tree-like person, limiting her Magick. Ever since then Witches have only been limited to a specific set of Magick abilities that way they can't ever become more powerful than the Demons."

Maka nodded slowly, taking in the information. "Then why are Demons also limited in Magick?"

Bryn smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's all preference, different categories of Magick gives us different strengths and weaknesses. It's like how each meister and weapon has a different fighting style depending on who's good at what."

"So then, what are your abilities?" Tsubaki asked quietly, looking over Maka's head.

The Demon girl put her hands on her hips and thought to herself for a moment. "Well, for a while I really favored chameleon abilities, helped me blend in so people wouldn't notice me much. Then after I left the orphanage, I became more nocturnal, so I've favored bats ever since. That's why I can hide within shadows."

The small group clustered around her gawked, but not because of her powers. "You lived in an orphanage?" One of the kids in the back started waving their hands. "Where are you from?"

Bryn backed into another shadow and disappeared under the branches of a different tree. She sat and glared at the lot of them while Lord Death waved his giant hands and shooed the group back into practice. The Demon had no interest in participating in the class, but she was curious to see the skill of Kidd's friends, so she sat quietly on her branch and observed.

Lord Death took a seat on the bleachers, choosing pairs that he'd like to see demonstrate, while calling out different strategies and tactics to use. After a good half hour into the class he gestured for Soul and Maka into the ring, then pointed up at Bryn.

"Bryn, I would like to see you try something for me!" he called, ushering the Demon out of the tree.

She didn't seem very interested, but decided not to challenge the authority of her Reaper's father. "And what might that be?"

"I want you to spar Soul and Maka!" he cheered, clapping his hands together.

Bryn raised a brow at the two. "That's not a fair fight, though," she stated, looking unsurely towards the headmaster of the academy, then back to the two in front of her.

Lord Death then pointed to the Thompson sisters and added, "Using only their powers. None of your own."

Liz stepped forward and started shaking her head. "Lord Death, I really don't think that's such a good idea."

"But what if something happened to Kidd? You two might be good weapons and meisters on your own, but being able to cooperate with Bryn wouldn't be a bad skill to learn." Shinigami-Sama then sat back down and pointed to the ring.

Bryn didn't look very pleased, but certainly wasn't about to back out of a new challenge. Though, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, she'd never held a pistol in her life. "Alright, how does this normally work?" she asked, holding out her hands.

The Thompson sisters groaned, but took on their weapon forms and nestled themselves on Bryn's palms. While Patti sat and giggled to herself, Liz decided to explain. "Well, we don't exactly fire bullets, we fire condensed energy of Kidd's soul's wavelength. I don't even know if we're capable of matching ourselves to yours."

The Demon closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, mentally replying to the oldest sister. "Kidd and I have essentially the same wavelength, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to adjust." The let out her breath and extended her wavelength to the sisters, slightly changing its frequency until she felt them click. "There."

"Wow," Liz said, quite surprised at the small feat. "Well I guess the easy part is over. So, have you ever actually fought with pistols before?"

Bryn snickered to herself and shrugged. "No, but there's a first for everything."

Kidd, who had recently joined the party of onlookers, folded his arms and called out to the Demon girl. "It's just like martial arts, only with guns!"

"That doesn't help me!" Bryn had never been involved with or practiced any type of martial art, she just knew how to street fight. But she figured that maybe that'd be good enough.

Maka grabbed Soul by the hand and, as he let his body melt into the scythe, spun him above her head as she warmed her wrists up. "You ready?"

The Demon only nodded, lowering herself into a half crouching position, bringing her right arm in front of her and using her left arm to balance. As the meister charged at her and swung around the scythe, Bryn kicked off with her back foot and flipped over the girl, firing rapidly below her.

Maka sliced the energy bullets in half as she pivoted around and nearly caught Bryn the collar of her shirt. She then planted her left foot firmly on the ground, brought Soul around, and started amplifying her wavelength.

Bryn watched curiously as the blade began to glow and change shape before her eyes. "What?"

The meister then took three running steps forward and drew Soul back around, crying loudly; "Witch Hunter!" and threw a wave of white energy at the Demon.

"Whoa!" Bryn crossed the pistols in front of her and dug her heels into the dirt, which proved to be useless as the wave pushed on and threw her to the ground. "What was that?" she huffed, lifting herself to her elbows.

Soul's upper-half materialized out of the long blade. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to stand a chance."

Bryn glared at him while she fully stood up, then whipped her head towards Shinigami-Sama. "What am I supposed to do?"

Lord Death 'smiled' back and replied, "Listen to Kidd!"

She only groaned in response, turning her attention back at Maka. Then she crouched back into her stance and took off, this time on the offense. As she reached Maka, anticipating the meister to dodge to the side, she switched her equilibrium and followed Maka, then whipped herself around to meister's back, shoving the two pistols into her sides, and firing.

Maka screamed and stumbled forward, dropping Soul to the ground as she fell to her knees. But within seconds she was back on her feet, Soul gripped firmly in her hands. "Not bad, but this isn't over yet." She charged again, bringing the scythe up and around from her right. Then, as she found an opening in the Demons stance, she brought him down on her head, pleased when Bryn blocked. Maka then pivoted and swung Soul around and drove the shaft into Bryn's side, sending her flying.

The Demon coughed and slammed her fist against the ground, getting severely irritated. "One more time, let's do this." She regained her footing and then looked Maka in the eye. "What exactly are the rules of these fights?"

The meister loosened her shoulders and swung Soul over her shoulder. "Whoever gets knocked out of the ring loses."

"Good, that's what I was going for." She then backed up to the edge of the ring and turned to the side, gauging the distance around the edge. As soon as she saw Maka charge out of the corner of her eye she took off, running the distance of the ring.

Maka stopped and turned her head, following the trail of the girl. She then held out Soul in front of her, waiting for Bryn to run right into his blade. But as the girl approached, she kicked up her feet and used the blunt side of the blade to push off harder, sending Maka stumbling back a few steps.

The crowed of watchers stared in awe as they watched the Demon pick up speed, and as they watched closer they could see the Thompson sisters glow, even in the thickening cloud of dust. Bryn had only watched Kidd use the Death Canon once, and she was only praying she was doing it right. But once she started getting slightly dizzy she began pushing her wavelength harder onto the other two, letting it intertwine and morph the guns in her hands. As the canons formed around her forearms she then threw herself at the meister, angling Liz (on her left) down at the ground and fired, launching herself into the air above the dust cloud. Then, as her height peaked, she fired Patti down at the meister, clearing the dust in all directions.

Kidd sat up and leaned forward, watching as Bryn landed neatly at the edge of the small crater. Maka lay in the center, Soul some yards away out of the ring. Bryn restored the Thompson sisters to their pistol form and dropped them to the ground, eyeing Maka cautiously. Before anyone had the chance to say much, the Demon made her way over to the meister, picked her up, and walked over to the edge of the ring, where she neatly laid her down on the other side. "I win."

"Good job, Bryn!" Lord Death cheered, standing up in his seat. "You did much better than I expected."

"Yeah well, I tried," she said simply, putting her hands on her hips.

Unknowingly to the Demon, Maka had already risen from her unconscious state, and was making her way to the Demon, Soul in hand. As she walked up behind the girl she took the back end of Soul and swung it around to Bryn's side where she had already been hit, and threw her out of the ring. "You did a pretty good job, Bryn, but you let your guard down."

The Thompson sisters, now human, made their way out of the rung and took their places beside Kidd. Liz looked down at her shorter meister, "How did she do that?"

"Do what?" Kidd asked, still watching Bryn.

"She used us as Death Canon, but it didn't take anywhere near as long to charge up as it does when you do it. How come?" Liz leaned over to look at Kidd's face.

He actually wasn't too sure, but figured it must have had something to do with her soul's wavelength. "She just has a stronger wavelength than I do, it probably helped speed up the process."

"So does that mean Bryn is stronger than you?" Patti inquired, putting a finger to her lips.

"Independently, probably." At that he stood and left the practice ring, heading off to his next class.

* * *

Raven was knelt on the floor before the Head Witch, her head bowed low and her hands placed firmly on the stone floor in front of her.

"What news have you?" the Head Witch asked, slightly raising her hooded head.

Raven stood up and looked at her master. "The DWMA has started classes again, and the Demon now attends. However, as the Death Manor has finished being restored I imagine she will be staying with the Reaper full time, but I will keep a close eye."

The Head Witch took a step out of the shadows. "I believe it is time to put our plan into motion."

The black haired Witch bowed her head, then replied. "Would you like me to-"

"No." The Head Witch held up a hand. "Your observations are still priority. My new assistant will be performing the net task. All I need you to do is accompany and make sure they get to the destination safely without anyone noticing. And if they do… well, you know what to do."

Raven nodded, watching as the new assistant removed herself from the dark shadows of the cavern. "Hai."

* * *

The moon grinned eerily over the Manor as Bryn approached the front gates, melting into their shadow and appearing on the opposite side. She looked up and around, impressed at the swift and clean job they did on the house. Though, she did have to admit she'd sort of miss being with Soul and Maka, even though it'd been only a month she decided that she really liked Maka. "But I probably should stay here… at least I can keep an eye on Kidd."

As she quietly entered the Manor, making an effort to keep quiet, her gut lurched forward. Bryn didn't get gut feelings very often, and when she did she usually ignored them, which is exactly what she did. "Freakish creepy house making me all paranoid. Why did he have to make it so damn dark in here."

She found her room on the second floor, which was a little bit of a feat, especially since Kidd insisted on complete darkness and furniture _everywhere_. Doubles. Of Everything. But six trips, four stubs, and eight bruises later, Bryn finally made it to her room.

She flipped the light switch and looked around. It wasn't very personal, it kind of reminded her of a generic hotel suite, as she had her own bathroom and a large queen sized bed. "Not too bad." After she scoped out the rooms and was satisfied with knowing where everything was, she stripped down and reveled in the thought of a hot shower, thankful that she didn't have to deal with getting up at five just to guarantee a hot shower before Soul woke up and used all the hot water.

As she finished and wrapped a towel around herself she stepped into her bedroom to fish out a pair of pajamas. When she pulled them from the drawer and looked up into the mirror her eyes crossed. The reflection bounced off of the mirror behind her, and continued the chain forever, making her dizzy as she looked at it. Before she fell over she flicked her hand behind her and put a cloaking spell on the mirror behind her, so neither reflected in the other. "This kid has got some serious problems."

Once she finished drying out her hair and getting dressed, she fished out her book from her pants pocket, and lifted the spell, restoring the book to its normal size. She flipped through the pages until she found her protection spell, then set the book in front of her and held out her hands, palms up. Bryn quietly chanted the short incantation, repeating continuously. Starting at the base of the walls, black runes ran themselves upwards along the walls, forming an invisible barrier between her room and the rest of the house. As soon as every inch of every wall was covered she quieted, and the runes faded.

"There, I feel better already." With that said she slid her book under the bed and turned off the lights, shrouding her room in shadows. "This kind of darkness is much more comforting."

The rest of the house was still and silent, not even creaking as it settled for the night. The light from the moon pooled into the living room from the glass doors, offering the only bit of light in the whole mansion. The cherry blossom tree outside seemed pale and white, and it cast bizarre shadows into the house, it's nearly empty branches swaying in the light breeze.

Outside two figures loomed in the shadows, one keeping close to the tree as the other entered the house, phasing through the glass as though it wasn't there. She signaled the other figure and it disappeared above the house, then she made her way silently through the Manor.

Kidd's door opened with no more than a faint creek, and the figure slipped inside. She stalked over to the bed where the sleeping Reaper lay, breathing steadily in a dreamless sleep. With another quick glance about the room, she held a cloth over his mouth and held him up, putting him in a state of unconscious animation, as if he were sleepwalking. She then guided him out of him bed and easy through the house and outside.

"Did anyone notice anything?" she asked, peering at the other girl on the roof.

Said girl jumped from the roof and landed gracefully on the soft patch of grass. "No, not even the Demon, she sleeps peacefully."

"Good, let's get a move on."

* * *

"Set him on the table over there."

The two Witches had taken Kidd to an underground cavern, a somewhat abandoned fort. In their main chamber the room was split down the middle by a deep moat, with only a narrow crosswalk connecting the two halves of the room. On one side was a raised platform and a book holder, behind it sat a table where Kidd currently rested. On the other side was bare to the ground, with only a large opening leading out of the fort.

"Will he be safe here?" Raven asked, strapping the boy to the table.

The other Witch sat down on the small platform and ran her fingers over the cover of the small book in front of her. "Of course, and when Head Witch Galaxiis gets here, no one will be able to get to him. Not even his stupid Demon."

Raven sat cross-legged on a rock a few feet from the girl. "So, who are you, may I ask?"

"My name is Inara, why?"

The other Witch tensed up a little. "Oh, um, I was just curious. Actually, I just wanted to know how you knew the Demon so well."

For a moment the cavern was quiet, except for the sound of moving water and dripping stalactites. "I've known her for a long time, and I used to visit her when she lived in the orphanage when she was young."

Raven bowed her head, not sure as to what to say back. "Oh… I didn't realize she lived in an orphanage."

"She never had a family, she's a Demon. So I put her in an orphanage so she wouldn't cause trouble for me." Inara closed the book and sat quietly.

"That's, um, a kind thing for you to do, I guess?"

Inara scoffed. "I thought that maybe being around other children would distract her from her powers, but sadly it only sped up her discovery of them. I should have just left her on the streets."

Suddenly, Raven felt very uncomfortable around the other Witch. "You seem to take a lot of responsibility for her… why?"

With a slow turn of her head, Inara answered the other. "She's my sister."

Raven nearly choked on her own breath. "What? How? That's impossible, she's a Demon!"

Inara raised her hand and lowered it slowly, hushing the other. "Everyone else thought so too. But apparently we both came from the same dark force, but because her soul's wavelength was stronger than mine at birth she became the Demon, and now I'm just a lowly Witch."

"Oh… That seems a little unfair." Though Raven didn't like Inara much, she tried to stay on her good side.

"Yes well, once we extract the Reaper's soul, she'll be powerless and an easy catch. All we have to do is wait here for the Head Witch. Oh, by the way, she said you did an excellent with extended protection spells, is this true?" Inara turned fully to the black haired woman next to her.

Raven nodded. "I suspect you want one to cover the whole fort?"

"Is that possible?"

"Well," she started, running her fingers through her thick hair. "Yes, but it'll take a while."

Inara scowled, not liking the tone of her voice. "How long is a while?"

The Raven Witch shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well, from what I've scoped out so far, it'll take at least three to four days. But if I concentrate on the outside and direct entrance to this room I can cut it down to about twenty-four hours."

"Good. Start working on it. I'll be waiting outside for intruders, so seal off the main corridor last."

"Hai."


End file.
